Modfying the Carenado Cessna R182 Skylane II RG

As I already wrote, I will be using a retractable gear Cessna 182 Skylane RG by Carenado for this delivery trip. This is a nice aircraft, powered by a Lycoming O-540-J3C5D 540 cubic inches, six cylinder boxer engine with 235 hp, driving a constant speed variable pitch propeller. At its 3,100 lb MTOW, it reaches a maximum cruise speed of 156 knots at 7,500 ft with 75% of power.


Fuel tanks

The Carenado add-on for Flight Simulator is modeled with two 33 gallon fuel tanks for a total usable fuel of 61 gallons, with 5 non usable gallons. On the other hand, the documentation that comes with the plane, extracted from the Pilot’s Operational Handbook (POH), shows performance data for 56 and 75 usable gallon configurations. Still more, I found an Information Manual declaring a fuel capacity of 92 gallons (88 usable).

What finally solved the mystery was the 3A13 Type Certificate Data Sheet (TCDS) for the Cessna Model R182. It states the following tank fuel capacities:

Therefore the performance documentation data from Carenado is in agreement with S/N group a, but the actual modeled fuel is in error, incorrectly taking the total capacity of the Standard Range tanks as the usable fuel.

Indeed, my first modification of this aircraft has been fixing the fuel capacity to 75 usable gallon Long Range tanks, which gives the following performance figures, with a 45 min reserve at 45% power:

Colored plexiglas

Cessna has historically used colored plexiglas in several of their planes. I have suffered blue windows in a few Cessna 152 from my Aeroclub, and they reduce the visibility, specially in backlight conditions. Fortunately, all of them have a neutral windshield, but this is not the case in Carenado’s R182. There are blue and brown window versions, including the windshield and killing the colorful scenarios in Flight Simulator. Here are two examples:





And here are my modifications with a “neutral”, a “lighter neutral” and a “clear glass” plexiglas versions:







I will use one of the two last mods. The clear is nice, but it eliminates the cool (although static) internal reflections in the windows. The decision is not yet taken.