With the HotStart TBM 900 in October 2018 probably THE add-on aircraft of the year for X-Plane 11 came out (We reported). And although it is the first Add-On of the label HotStart, the developers with Goran Matovina behind it are no strangers. We took a closer look at the small and damn fast business turboprop for you. You can find out in this Add-On Check why the 65 US dollars are a hurdle that you should definitely overcome!
HotStart TBM 900: The Facts
The TBM 900 is currently the latest edition of this successful turboprop family from the French manufacturer Socata and is now marketed as the Daher TBM900. This is due to the sale of Socata's majority shareholding to the Daher Group by its former parent company EADS (now Airbus). The TBM 900 seats a total of six people and is clearly designed for speed. With a top speed of 330 knots, it challenges the Cessna Citation which is equipped with two jet engines. But the TBM 900 reaches this speed by just one single turboprop engine. Also unusual for a propeller aircraft: the service ceiling of 31,000 feet.
The HotStart TBM 900 was realized by the two developers Goran Matovina (known from Leading Edge Simulations) and Saso Kiselkov. It is available for 65 US dollars in the shop of X-Aviation and is only compatible with X-Plane 11. The plane needs almost 1.2 gigabytes of space on your hard drive. However, most of it is downloaded during installation after entering your X-Aviation login data. Of course, the plane is also well documented. You can read through classic PDF manuals or simply participate in interactive live tutorials within the simulator - how cool is that?!
The Airplane
Already graphically the HotStart TBM 900 plays absolutely on the level of time. A highly detailed model, which has been carefully worked out both inside as well as outside down to the smallest detail. This is what it makes very difficult to take off for the first flight. Much too much one is occupied with the pure looking at the model. The design is rounded off by razor-sharp textures. With their PBR (Physically Based Rendering) effects, these almost make you forget that this is just a virtual aircraft. The TBM 900 comes with a total of ten paintings. And they offer a special feature: First of all, none of the Liveries has a Callsign applied from the outset. This can then be entered individually when creating a new aircraft in the Airframe Manager. The license plate is then automatically applied to the texture. What a sensational feature!
