X-Plane aircraft maker Thranda are in the process of putting what looks to be the finishing touches on the Cessna 208 Caravan and Grand Caravan coming to X-Plane. A series of training and tutorial videos have come out over the last several days. Let’s have a look!

Prepare for flight

Designed in the 1970s and built in the 1980s and beyond, the Cessna 208 Caravan and Grand Caravan series are a light utility aircraft used all over the world for transporting people, equipment, foodstuffs, and even livestock depending on the needs of the operator. It’s a go almost anywhere an do almost anything kind of aircraft. Some have been adapted for military uses as well.

To get everyone up to speed and to show off the aircraft’s features, Thranda have been releasing training videos and teasers to get us excited for release. The first video is a teaser and it lets us see the exterior and take in the exterior audio (which sounds excellent).

Next up is an introduction to the aircraft showing off both Caravan and Grand Caravan configurations. This video also shows us where Thranda’s development work and configurability really come into play as Joseph Noe shows us how the seats and cargo can be moved around and configured. Very customizable and very cool!

The video after that goes over the electric system. Thranda’s deep system modeling really is on display where we can see what happens when different procedures are followed and what the effect on the electrical system is.

Next up is the fuel system. The tutorial talks about how you can interact with the fuel system, what the instrument panel can tell us what’s going on with the main and auxiliary fuel systems are doing.

Bendix King KFC 225 autopilot will help manage the aircraft in flight and this tutorial shows us how to use it. It includes operation and procedures including the self test that goes on during the startup. On the whole, this is pretty standard stuff.

The last two are a engine start tutorial and then a taxi and takeoff tutorial. Good information for people wanting to do a cold and dark start and to learn about some of the nuances of the takeoff roll. There are some nice features built in here by Thranda so definitely watch these.

Let’s go fly?

Thranda is well known for not giving specific release dates. No statement has been given on a release date, however, having watched each of the videos above I can only conclude that release is very likely imminent. The project has moved along at a good pace and it looks like systems and features are nearing a finished release state.

I’d expect news on release to come soon. Look for that coming up!