What plane to choose

[Guest leon.schuiling]

I have been looking arround for a perfect plane to fly, and i enjoyed the sf260 a lot however this is not a particular fast plane. since this race is a team effort and i dont wanna screw up: what plane to choose sugestions are welcome, or shall i fly the sf260greetingsleon

[svenks 4]

Hi LeonI would definitely recommend the P-38. It has good (not great, though) speed, long range (especially with tanks) and most important, it is very easy to fly! You don't have any torque problems due to the 2 counter-rotating props, you can do steep dive due to the divebrake, it handles very well on the ground. It does have a tendency to 'float' at landing, but that is mostly a matter of habit. Don't come in too fast!I flew it last year, and I'll do it again this year except when I really need speed - then I'll take my new P-51 (**).Hope this helps, BRGDSSven Sorensen, EKCH

[MM 424]

Hi Leon,Welcome back. Look forward to seeing you in the pre-race sessions--which are more casual and chatter-filled.Sven's suggestion is absolutely right. The P-38L is pretty competitive and very solid in its handling. And David Copely did an excellent job with the whole project. And, especially nice, it is freeware. (Get the latest edition here at AVSIM.)Best,Mike

[StoneC0ld 5]

I concur..... David Copely's P-38's (I have the J, but I think the L variant might be a bit faster) is probably the best *FREEWARE* aircraft in terms of speed, range and handling... If you're limited to freeware, this is definitely the way to go... Of course, there could be better freeware options that I'm not aware of, but since there's 2 posters on this thread already promoting the P-38, it must be one of the best, if it's not THE best... :(If you're willing to put out a bit of money, you might do even better with FSD's Avanti or Cheyenne. Both are faster than the P-38, the Avanti being fastest of the 3. The Cheyenne requires a bit more finesse to fly, but it's still pretty stable; the Avanti is much more slippery and will require a lot more attention to safely fly when flying close to the barberpole. I'm not familiar with the ** P-51, don't own that aircraft.....yet....I flew the P-38J in 2 of the 3 races so far (the Avanti and the DC-3 leg last year), and I've been absolutely happy with it. So, I'm sure that you'll be happy with it, and don't feel you absolutely NEED to spend the money on payware just for the race. Just make sure you put on the extra droptanks, because I don't think you can fly a full 2-hour leg full-throttle on just the basic fuel tanks.. Don't exactly get good fuel economy at full throttle.... :( Instructions should be included in the documentation...

[Guest]

P38, P51, Avanti, Cheyenne 400LS, P47.All take getting used to and can be tricky at low speed so choose your steed and get some experience in it.