The Aero L-39 Albatros, from Lotus Simulations
By Kevin Glover
Hmm…. Lotus- I’ve never heard of that company before. As I was browsing through posts on my favourite forum, I came upon a topic talking about a new L-39 for FSX. As there hasn’t really been an L-39 of distinction since the venerable Captain Sim model, I was naturally intrigued. What’s more, this start-up company was bragging some innovations which I would expect of the well-established genius of A2A Simulations. As it would turn out, this L-39 from Lotus Simulations would sweep the community with its performance, innovation, and real-life appeal. Mike Johnson, founder of Lotus, has spent the last two years conceiving this rather remarkable aircraft with a very small team of talented friends.
First Impressions-
When I first downloaded the L-39, it came to something like 207MB. However, since the latest patch, I believe the installer is more like 160MB, so keep an eye on what you’re downloading because if it’s above 200 you probably have the original version. Once installed, you find a very attractive manual (also available from lotussim.com). This manual is written very well and holds your interest without much effort. It details all of the usual things, plus some interesting aerobatic guides and a humorous development log which caps the whole thing off nicely.
In the FSX menu you find several paint schemes over a variety of models. External models include two military variants, plus civilian and long-range models. As far as internal models go, things get more complicated. The thumbnail images of the stock liveries show some rather important icons which illustrate whether the model is purely front-seat, dual-cockpit, IFR hood equipped, or a special performance-optimized multiplayer model. These will be explained in plenty of detail later, don’t worry.
Interior-
On the whole, the L-39 is very representative of its era, both inside and out. As the aircraft was manufactured in Czechoslovakia, it originally had some unique Soviet instruments. Lotus has chosen to pick-and-choose the gauges which remain the original Soviet-style or have been upgraded to more modern western avionics. For the most part, you’ll find an old-style Soviet HSI and Attitude indicator. These look different at first, but you’ll find that their operation is largely the same as western models; in the case of the Attitude indicator (in which the pitch and roll are displayed separately) I daresay you’ll find that it gives a better representation of the aircraft than normal Western products, especially in acrobatic or combat maneuvers.
However, I’m getting ahead of myself – as I was saying, this aircraft represents the rather simpler era in which it was made. This shows itself in the uncluttered panels and intuitive layout. On your left-hand side panel, you’ll find all of the engine controls, pitot heat, oxygen, canopy controls, and the landing lights. The central panel, except for a few odds and ends, is much like any other comparable aircraft and doesn’t take a whole lot of acclimation (mind you, you ought to have the position of every gauge memorized before trying any aerobatics). The right-hand side panel has all of the electronics controls, a GPS, radios, and the emergency levers. We’ll talk more about this later.
One thing to keep in mind with the Albatros is that the panel is split between different shades of grey- the left side is rather light, and the right is dark. This distinction more-or-less marks the border between normal flight instruments and the engine instruments, which are in the dark grey section.
Now that you’re vaguely familiar with the cockpit’s layout, let’s go over how said cockpit looks. You have to keep in mind that Lotus went in the opposite direction from most companies by focusing on performance from the very start; this ties in closely with Mike Johnson’s personal flight simulation creed, but more on that later. All of the textures in the L-39 have been created with an ideal mixture of performance and looks; so, everything is very crisp, which is good, because it offsets the fact that some of the cockpit is a bit blocky. There’s nothing very major, but you’ll notice the odd inconspicuous sharp corner. This is, in my opinion, a very acceptable measure to keep performance in line.
On the whole, I noticed the good textures a lot more than any bad polygons. I’ve always hated blurry cockpits, and thankfully everything in this one is easily readable and very cleanly portrayed (except the floor, which is intentionally a bit scuffed). One interesting tidbit is that the cockpit is designed using something called closed architecture – this is simply the lack of any missing panels which could be seen if you really user Track-IR a lot. Sometimes something like this is done to help performance, such as on the back of control columns which the user doesn’t usually see.
There are a couple of variants which don’t sound like much on paper, but are a big change once you’re in the cockpit. The biggest one is a retractable IFR hood, which is noted on the aircraft thumbnails in the FSX menu with a graphic of the hood on all the aircraft which have it. This is a large black canopy which looks like it was taken from an old-fashioned camera. The user can pan the view around and click it to expand the canopy. This will block out all of the canopy and only lets you see the instruments. To retract it, click on the same zone, or an area near the front of the canopy – either one works. Additionally, this is visible from the outside.
The other largest factor is the gunsight. Apparently, Lotus had a certain amount of trouble with it as Mike has referred to it several times in a negative manner with regards to the amount of polygons it took up (among other things, of course). Looking at it in the simulator, you’d hardly know; on the left of the gunsight is a small switch which allows you to toggle the gunsight reticule on or off. This is properly collimated, so moving your viewpoint will cause the projected image to move accordingly. The gunsight is also visible from the outside.
Now, these two are nice little bonuses, but they rather pale in comparison to what’s lurking directly behind the innocent pilot’s seat – the instructor area.
The Dual Cockpit and Its Wonders-
Mike Johnson is a very heavy believer in multiplayer. In fact, he regards it as ‘the single greatest addition to the simulator since 3D terrain’. I, for one, was scarcely enamored with it when I first got FSX; back then I was simming and reviewing on a decrepit Dell 2400 with an ATI PCI card stuck in as a futile attempt at beating back the blurries. The poor performance I got in multiplayer, to say nothing of the overloaded Gamespy’s miserable shortcomings, turned me off with grimaces to spare. So, when I got my new rig running, I wasn’t terribly concerned with its odd inability to recognize an internet connection. I tried to get it going, of course – I had spent a lot of money on this thing and wanted it to work as well as possible, but when my attempts fell flat I was only slightly put out. Sure, offline activation could be a hassle, but I flew with scarcely a concern. Then, Mike Johnson had to make this L-39, make it brilliantly, and make it the single greatest addition to multiplayer FSX has seen. I installed it on my old Dell and flew around a bit with a friend – it was great fun, yes, and made me wish for internet on my gaming rig; still, I haven’t been able to get it going, and now I regret it every time I see a picture of a formation flight.
Anyway, that long spiel was largely an introduction to Mike Johnson’s extraordinary work in making this L-39 the best multiplayer aircraft there is. The largest reason for this is the fact that he chose to model the rear seat (in the FSX menu, aircraft with this are designated by a graphic of two person-shaped icons); more importantly, in this rear seat he placed the instruments of torture used by the instructor on his unwary pupil.
Now, most insidious of these implements is doubtlessly the Trainee instrument fault simulation panel. This is located on the center pedestal directly behind the stick, which you can hide by clicking at its base. This panel has provisions to fail the front seat’s compass, directional gyro, the two axes of the artificial horizon, pitot pressure, static pressure, and the combined failure of those two. A fearsome arsenal, yes, and one which is a lot of fun for both parties in a multiplayer flight – but only if used properly. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility, so make sure your flying buddy knows that you’re probably going to mess with his or her head before you get off the ground.
Other than this fascinating panel, the L-39’s rear seat is largely the same as the front in quality and instrumentation. For instance, the gear lever is usually left in the neutral position, but it can be positioned in a contradictory position to the front lever, and the system will default to the rear lever’s position. Additionally, the Network switch, located on the right side panel, can be used to completely cut off electronics in the front cockpit. Yes, I can just hear the evil laughter now.
The added detail in the rear seat really makes for some fun experiences. There’s nothing cooler than having your aircraft be flown by someone connected to you through the internet. It’s a great way to get to know some of the sim pilots you meet on the web.
Exterior-
While skillfully modeled, the exterior of the aircraft doesn’t have all of the goodies of the interior and thus I fear this section may be rather short. The L-39 is a very sleek jet; two graceful air intakes adorn the sides of the fuselage, which tapers gently to the engine compartment. The whole thing looks nothing like an albatross to me, and I wonder why on earth Aero Vodochody gave it that name.
Despite aesthetic appearances, the Lotus L-39 includes all the usual goodies such as bump maps, panel lines, and dynamic shine (although the multiplayer model gets rid of much of this for the benefit of performance).
Now, there are some features which could be easily taken for granted, but I wish to express my appreciation for the attention to detail. For one, Lotus has modeled the physical landing gear and flap indicators. These are physically attached to the controls they represent and bob up and down in relation to the controls. Mind you, the nose gear indicator isn’t visible when it’s not in motion - it’s hidden just below the rim of the cockpit, but you can see it when the gear is just about to lock into the extended position.
Additionally, you’ll notice that the elevators are deflected upward when on the ground. I was curious as to why this was, and it turns out that the elevators are attached to bungee cords which are intended to assist the pilot in high-G maneuvers. They are pushed to neutral around 30 knots when the air resistance overcomes the bungee.
Lastly, you’ll also find integral boarding ladders, but this is the only truly extraneous aspect of this aircraft. In keeping with Lotus’ performance goals, you won’t find any extra goodies such as wheel chocks or dust plugs.
Flight-
The L-39 is a very intuitive aircraft to fly; to be frank, I don’t think I’ve enjoyed flying an aircraft more than the Albatros. It has perfect speed and handling for my sort of flying; indeed, the lower speeds actually make it rather nice as high speeds always blur the simulator. I daresay that you’ll encounter very few problems flying the Albatros, as nearly all areas of flight are quite straightforward.
Takeoff is, as in most aircraft, fairly simple. Because the aircraft is somewhat underpowered, I recommend a good four thousand feet of pavement for this aircraft to get into the air. Standard takeoff is accomplished with brakes applied, half flaps and throttle at 106% N1, which is the engine’s limit. Once the engine has completely spooled up, release the brakes and accelerate. As it states in the manual, you may find it very useful to stay in ground effect until the aircraft has accelerated to around 300 km/h. During this time, retract the gear and flaps. Whether or not you get to the flaps is somewhat immaterial as the Albatros will retract them upon reaching the above speed anyway.
The aircraft requires little trim for climb and the best economical angle of climb is around 280 km/h. If you’re planning on getting up to any sort of altitude, it’s wise to keep an eye on your EGT gauge. The Albatros has a built-in EGT limiter which can be shut off (only in emergencies) via the guarded toggle on the left-hand side panel. When the engine reaches around 700 degrees C, warning lights will start to illuminate and it’s wise to reduce throttle to keep from either having your engine shut down or losing it completely. If such an event does occur, you should look to the right-hand side panel where the four emergency levers are located. The RAM turbine should deploy automatically and the various other levers are clearly labeled for the situations they are required in, such as gear and flap failure.
You may note that landing can be somewhat tricky. The AI-25TL, the L-39's powerplant, is very slow to spool up and power is simply not available in tricky situations. So, it’s important to always be thinking ahead on what power you have available and how quickly you might need more. As it says in Lotus’ excellent manual, many pilots fly the approach with speed brakes deployed and higher throttle, so that if more thrust is needed, quickly you can just retract the speed brakes; this is much effective than trying to pile on the throttle as the engine can take twelve seconds to get to full throttle, whereas speedbrakes take only one second to retract.
It’s a good idea to have the aircraft in landing configuration with stable airspeed early as last-minute changes make it tricky to manage speed, and you don’t want to stall in this aircraft, as you’ll probably have to exit the aircraft and climb out of a crater when stalls occur near the ground. Typical power settings for landing are around 80% N1, so thrust stays fairly high. Final landing speed should be around 230 km/h.
The Albatros is really a great intermediate aerobatic aircraft and it was tons of fun to try spins, loops, and all sort of feats. I highly recommend the Albatros manual
here for a much more in-depth description of the flight characteristics of this aircraft.
The Albatros can stand impressive G loads, which is good because this bird can turn pretty fast when it wants to. As the Albatros is rather low on the power scale, my favourite maneuver in this aircraft is a flat spin, which requires no thrust and thus well suits the aircraft. To perform a flat spin, gain sufficient altitude and retard the throttle. I like to keep the nose around 5 degrees up until the stall warning sounds. At this point, pull the stick fully aft and hold around 15 degrees nose-up attitude. At 150km/h or less, keep holding the stick aft and fully deflect the rudder either way to initiate the spin. Before one complete revolution, neutralize the controls and enjoy the ride. When you need to get out, simply apply rudder opposite to the direction of the spin and moderate forward stick. I also apply some throttle and in short order the aircraft is back in a normal realm of flight.
Special Features-
After I wrote the section and edited the review, I had to chuckle at the length of this section. Perhaps I should have included these features into the main body of the review, but I feel that this rather long separate section gives these innovations the spotlight which they certainly deserve.
The Lotus L-39 proudly features a number of innovations which have been widely lauded by developers to be impossible. Among the list of accolades on finds, perhaps most strikingly, VC Rain drop affects (Gasp! Applause). So, whenever the Albatros flies in rainy or snowy weather, you’ll have streaks of precipitation trailing over your windshield. The effect even works when you fly through clouds. It also takes airspeed into account, so on the ground the rains drops will just sit on your windshield whereas they’ll streak across your windshield when you’re at speed.
The canopy seems to hold quite a bit of interest for Lotus; not only did they create the rain drop effect, but they also portrayed virtual scratches in the material of the canopy. These are largely invisible until you look through the canopy directly into the sun; then, the light ‘catches’ the cracks and really makes them stand out - the effect is both realistic and attractive. The gauges also feature something similar, but this is much more subtle.
Also in the cockpit you’ll notice that just about everything makes sound. Most of the switches, the G-suit pump, and various things in the cockpit all have sound. Some of the switch sounds are repeated, unfortunately, but some of the sounds such as the IFR canopy and RAM air turbine extension are very convincing indeed.
There are also some very creative internal lighting conditions. There are red floodlights and red and white instrument backlights; these effectively adjust to changing lighting conditions. On the whole, multiple cockpit lights are definitely an improvement as it’s been widely stated that only one cockpit light is possible.
On a similar note, we have 3D landing lights. Now, these are similar to A2A’s package in principal, but are somewhat more refined. Rather than a distinctly illuminated cone in all types of weather, Lotus’s 3D lighting will only illuminate the ground in normal conditions. However, in rain or snow, they will show the drops of water flashing past the light. They also realistically adjust to lighting conditions within the simulator. Less spectacularly, you’ll also find that the strobe lights are also 3D, but no doubt the landing lights will command most of your attention.
Perhaps the last, but not the least, feature is the aircraft’s realistic capability of icing up when flying in humid areas. When icing conditions occur, ‘ice’ will blur the canopy to varying degrees and necessitate the use of anti-icing measures. This effect is also visible from the outside and creates a very neat visual effect of snow sitting on the leading edges of the wings and horizontal stabilizer, as well as the nose and canopy.
Performance-
The L-39 was designed from the very beginning to perform extremely well, and it certainly does so. In all cases it is better than any payware aircraft and nails the default in most circumstances as well.
Final Word-
I have been fortunate enough to review most of the major releases of the past few years and have seen a number of wonderful aircraft and companies flourish. Lotus really is the most incredible organization and I would fancy that no other company could produce such a marvel as a first product; it hardly warrants comparison to other first aircraft as the Lotus L-39C Albatros can hold its own with the very best of the market today. I can give it nothing but kudos and my hope for a bright future.
Documentation- 10/10 points
Interior Appearance- 19/20 points
Exterior Appearance- 20/20 points
Systems- 19/20 points
Extras (unique features, etc.) 10/10 points
Pricing- 8/10 points
Performance- 10/10 points
Total-
96/100
VFR Reviews is immensely pleased to award the L-39 Albatros by Lotus Simulations our Gold Award, for aircraft. The Gold Award is presented to aircraft which, while not only being nearly perfect both inside and out, also contribute to pushing the envelope of simulation today. The following is a description of how the aircraft held up to our Four Point System -
Four Point System-
Programming- This product’s programming is nearly perfect and is not as complex as some other aircraft. However, for the period of the aircraft the level of programming is suitable.
Appearance- The Albatros is attractively and realistically modeled inside and out, but with some blocky edges in the cockpit.
Flight Dynamics- The Albatros seems to fly very much in the simulator as what I would expect in real life. Aerobatic maneuvers can be performed in the aircraft via real-world guides.
Features- The Lotus L-39 is brimming with a wide variety of very innovative and useful features.
For a list of what is required of VFR Gold Award candidates, please visit
www.vfrreviews.com.
