VFlyteair Simulations has recently released their rendition of the Piper Twin Comanche PA-30 for Microsoft Flight Simulator, their first product for the platform after many years of add-on development for X-Plane.

The PA-30 Twin Comanche is a twin-engined (as the name suggests) monoplane designed and built by Piper Aircraft, Inc. It is, in a nutshell, a PA-24 with two engines, developed to compete with the Cessna 310 and the Beechcraft Baron. It ultimately replaced the PA-23, also known as the Piper Apache, their former two-engine airplane.

The first prototype was converted from the single-engined Comanche (PA-24) by Ed Swearingen, who operated a facility that specialized in modifying production aircraft models. It was given two 160 hp Lycoming IO-320-B1A engines and flew out of San Antonio, Texas, for the first time in 1961. An official prototype was built a year later in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania (where their factory used to be at the time), and the FAA’s approval was given shortly after in 1963, with the first delivery following only a few months later.

VFlyteair’s rendition replicates the analog version of the Twin Comanche, with an eventual update to bring glass panel options from their X-Plane 12 version under consideration for the future. The classic version sports a Century IIB autopilot and TDSSim GTN750Xi compatibility (a GTN750Xi and 650Xi stack) for improved situational awareness.

According to VFlyteair, the in-sim rendition features an accurately modeled PA-30, using real-world aircraft blueprints and comprehensive photographic reference, with 4K texturing, PBR, detailed normal mapping, a 3D virtual cockpit, wear and tear on texturing, simulated electrical systems, and 26 different liveries from multiple countries.

It’s available on SimMarket for roughly $33.39, requiring at least 910.13 MB of free hard disk space to install.

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