Recently I reported on a new entrant into the MSFS Marketplace. AzurPoly’s C-160 Transall is a simulation of the French-German designed and built military transport airplane. In my first full flight with the airplane, I brought along a couple of friends and we decided to make things interesting we decided that a dawn low level operation was the only way to do this. Let’s go!

Low level with the C-160 over Eastern Europe

The mission we came up with was a resupply run from Lublin, Poland (EPLB) to Hostomel Airport also known as Antonov-2 (UKKM) taking advantage of scenery packs that most of us in the group had. Lublin is part of the Drzewiecki Design portfolio while Hostomel was created by GazSim Scenery (and 10% of proceeds go to Antonov to rebuild the An-225).

Low cloud deck and dawn light provided for the scenic views during this flight. We’d encounter a lot of fog and limited visibility at times while flying in the clear sunlight at other times. Our ceiling was set at 2000 feet and for most of the flight we spent exploring the C-160’s capabilities while skimming the ground.

Departure and some DCS comments

Loaded down with supplies in some of our aircraft, military vehicles in others, we set out in three C-160 Transall aircraft. This extremely hypothetical scenario is not one that is based on anything in particular but flying low altitude in a medium sized transport airplane is something that I’ve wanted to explore for a while.

This Flight Journal is flown exclusively in Microsoft Flight Simulator but its a scenario that I want to explore more when DCS World eventually gets its C-130 simulation. Skimming the terrain in a transport while in an active combat scenario with radar evading flying a necessity sounds like fun. Here we relied a bit on our imaginations but in DCS World the simulated threats become more real to your mission success.

Taxiing out to the end of Lubin’s runway, we made use of the manual to calculate takeoff speed and that became essential as the runway was only just long enough for our fully loaded (just a few kilograms off from MTOW) Transalls to get airborne.

I used nearly all of the runway to get up and even then the aircraft was straining and shuddering a bit as I clawed for altitude. Not much altitude but enough to feel confident to raise the gear and flaps. A little sink after flap raising made me think that I could have kept them out for just a bit longer… but alas we were on the way.

A nearby factory and smokestack was our reference to make our turn towards the east and on to our destination.

Across eastern Europe at 1500 feet

At maximum power, even at MTOW, the C-160 in MSFS seems to be able to maintain an impressive sea level speed of 200 knots. That was counterproductive for our desire to fly together and so we backed off the power some and ensured that we were in a safe operating power level – not having read at the time if AzurPoly had implemented failures (they haven’t).

The C-160 has an EFB built in which lets you configure things like cargo (there are a half dozen types) and various settings such as co-pilot visibility. It also allows for quick and easy access to an autopilot system. As near as I can tell the C-160 does have an autopilot but I had trouble trying to figure it out enroute so I used the quick and easy method. I’ll read the manual later!

That made skimming the ground pretty easy. But it also revealed to me how vast, flat, and open most of Ukraine is as we went past forests, villages and towns, and even a quarry.

Arrival and landing

We also, as a group, explored a mix of navigational methods during this flight. An optional GNS430 gives a basic GPS capability to the airplane while VOR and ADF capabilities are baked into the type using the flight computer and cockpit controls. It did take us a bit to find the switch that let us cycle between sources, however, once we did we were able to home in on the beacon near Hostomel.

We arrived over the field in style with each of us flying fast across the field before making several tight turns to bleed speed and come in for a landing at the almost absurdly long runway.

Parking our C-160s also gave us the opportunity to enjoy the scenery at the airport with the showcase of Antonov aircraft and the massive hangars setup to support them.

This was a terrific flight among friends and a great first full flight experience with AzurPoly’s C-160. I’m going to have to dream up some additional scenarios to put this type through its paces – maybe with some mountains the next time!

That was incredible fun and a great way to show off what some potential objective gameplay could be in MSFS 2024 as well as how military transports could fit into DCS World. Adding an RWR beeping away while SAM and fighter threats presented themselves on a dynamic battlefield could be incredibly immersive gameplay.