Released in the spring of last year, my backlog of aircraft reviews has me reviewing Blackbirds Cessna C310R recreation for Microsoft Flight Simulator several months later and against the backdrop of a marketplace that has now seen a significant competitor arrive in the form of the A2A Comanche. With that in mind, I set about reviewing the C310R and seeing what it adds over its competitors and how it competes with what might be the new king. Let’s have a look!

A bit of history

The Cessna 310 holds the distinction of being Cessna’s first twin engine aircraft which the company first put into production in 1954. Cessna would then go on to produce dozens of different variations over the course of the production run of both Cessna 310 and 320 models. Just over 6,000 of the two types were built with production ending in 1980. As with most GA airplanes, many older aircraft continue to fly and have been retrofitted with modern cockpit instrumentation.

Blackbird Simulations have modelled us a Cessna 310R, the last production model, that was first introduced in 1975. It features a pair of 285 hp Continental IO-520-M engines with three blade propellers as well as a lengthened nose offering an enlarged baggage compartment.

Although the Cessna 310R has not been in production since 1980, they remain a popular twin engine general aviation aircraft even in the 2020s.

Taking it to the next level

The thing that takes Blackbird’s C310R experience to the next level is with the persistence features that the company has built into the airplane.

You start with three basic choices on what happens when you spawn with your airplane. Is it a new airplane with a normal cold and dark state and no reliability or wear and tear issues? If so that’s the “normal” mode and that makes the C310R very much like most other high-end GA-types in the sim. There’s rental mode where the airplane you’re getting into has random cold and dark states and reliability. Then there’s ownership mode where you can start with a fresh airplane but then on each subsequent flight the state of the airplane is saved from the switches to the amount of fouling on the engine sparks.

Every light and system can fail if failures are enabled. Lights can burn out and circuit breakers can pop and need replacing. Its not groundbreaking but its not typical for most MSFS aircraft to have this level of detail.

These features really elevate the experience if you like to pretend that your owning an airplane. They also offer challenges to the reliability of that airplane if a system fails or maintenance is not performed. Though these tasks are reduced to simple button clicks in the tablet, it still offers an extra layer to the simulation that you don’t see with every aircraft.

There’s also a visual element to this as well where the aircraft can become dirty over time and use. You can start out fresh and then have the aircraft accumulate realistic levels of weathering over successive flights. You can also just drag the slider back and forth and see what the difference is between a very clean and a dirtied up aircraft.

Graphics, avionics and sounds

Beyond some of the extra features that Blackbird has baked into this airplane, there are some more typical core features that the C310R sports as well. Cockpit details for example are top notch and although the visuals are a bit on the clean side, the overall visual is utilitarian and crisp and clean. It makes reading those gauges really easy to do even when zoomed out and even at night with the lights on.

That level of detail extends to the exterior as well. High resolution textures, multiple liveries, the option for custom registration on the aircraft or skin specific ones, beautiful 3D modeling, opening cargo and passenger doors and compartments, plus wheel chocks and tie downs.

When it comes to avionics there’s also a ton of options here. You can go with a very traditional model with purely radio based navigation systems or you can make use of various GPS options including the third party PMS50 and TDS GTN750 plug-ins. These can all be hot swapped into the cockpit whenever you want so you can setup your plane and give it the instruments that you want it to have.

Then there’s the sound which is excellently done. The rumble of the engines feels really good, buttons and controls inside the cockpit all appear to have their own sound samples including the throttle, mixture and propeller leavers. Nice!

There’s also a rare feature here with wind noises coming off the propellers when you position the camera behind the aircraft – a rare feature in MSFS and one that I appreciated on numerous Aerobask products in X-Plane 11 and 12.

The handling

Now let’s talk about the aircraft and how it feels to fly. In short? It’s really good! The Blackbird C310R is in a category that few other aircraft in MSFS inhabit and I would put this aircraft in a similar category to the SWS Kodiak 100 in aircraft that really feel the part. MSFS is capable of good flight dynamics but it appears to require a lot of talent on the developers to dial that feeling in and Blackbird I think have done it.

I don’t know how a real C310R handles but I can point to things like adequate amounts of asymmetric yaw when rolling the airplane, not too much float on the ground effect when landing, challenging behaviour when encountering turbulence and abrupt wind changes on landing… it really feels natural.

Blackbird say that they have also done a lot of work to ensure that the C310R handles the way it should in single engine operations. I haven’t been able to confirm but I will say that handling changes dramatically and extra care is required particularly on landing.

Fun extras

Blackbird Simulations also seem to really appreciate packing in some fun extra features. I see them as a kind of “Easter Egg” experience but they do have a bit more presence than your usual.

The first is a passenger comfort index. This is a fun way to track how comfortable your passengers are. Is it too hot or too cold in the cabin? Have you recently performed some significant maneuvering or pushed some negative-Gs? That will all contribute to making your passengers not feeling particularly comfortable. But, maintain the right temperature and fly smoothly and they will love the experience.

I put the C310R on the ground in Phoenix, Arizona with no air conditioning and the outside temperature at 45 degrees Celsius or 113 Fahrenheit. You can see that their comfort was low!

There’s also a bobble head that you can put on the dash. It has its own physics system so it bobbles realistically as you fly the plane. The only one I’ve seen is of Albert Einstein but there’s a number attached which makes me think there are more. I just haven’t figured out how to unlock them.

Click a spot on the lower cockpit panel and it will display the coat of arms of Ukraine. A good chunk of the Blackbird team are from Ukraine so this show of support is well justified.

I’ve read from the developers that there are 9 “Easter Eggs” in all. I’m sure I will find more as I continue to fly the plane.

Final thoughts

In the headline I wrote the question “Ultimate GA experience?” That reflects a legitimate question that I had going into flying this airplane. Truth be told I actually became more excited about the Cessna 310R not at its initial release but after experiencing the quality work that Blackbird did on the 40th Anniversary edition’s DHC-2 Beaver.

With A2A’s Piper Comanche now out, I think it seems likely that the crown has been passed to A2A given the level of detail that the company has put into their Comanche. Still, I still have to hand it to Blackbird for producing an absolutely excellent GA experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator. If this isn’t the ultimate GA experience then its very close to it and it does it seamlessly. If you want that extra detail you can enjoy it and if you want to fly it like any other GA airplane in the sim you can do that too.

This is a quality add-on for the sim with excellent visuals, systems, flight modelling, and sounds. Going the extra mile with persistence is going to appeal to some more than others but they remain an impressive set of features that you do not find in most other releases. I can easily recommend this aircraft.

Blackbird sells the C310R directly through their online store for $39.99 USD. You can also pick it up on the MSFS Marketplace and on Orbx Direct.