Please post your recommendations for competitive aircraft. If you have the filename and location post that as well. As always, I recommend David Copley's P-38 especially for beginners new to flying high powered, hard to handle warbirds.

Please post your recommendations for competitive aircraft. If you have the filename and location post that as well. As always, I recommend David Copley's P-38 especially for beginners new to flying high powered, hard to handle warbirds.

I will second that recommendation without a moment's hesitation. David Copley's P-38L (or even the P-38J) are EXCELLENT aircraft for those new team members not familiar with the high-powered warbirds that we veterans tend to prefer. It's reasonably fast, has the fuel range to cover a 2-hour leg easily, and handles fairly easy. Great aircraft to start off with. Downside is that it's a bit far from the fastest aircraft out there that qualifies for the race...There's Gnoopey's P-47, if you want to take it a step higher... It's quite fast, comparable to the ** P-51H, but from what little I've flown in it, it's a BEAST to safely takeoff and land. It's DEFINITELY an aircraft that you'd want to spend a lot of time doing traffic patterns and stop-and-go's to practice your landings and takeoffs, and I seriously wouldn't recommend it for beginners to this category of aircraft... This aircraft has been on the "questionable" list for the past year or two, though; and while it may have been allowed before, its future may be uncertain in this race...There should be a freeware P-51 out there, which would hopefully be *somewhat* comparable to the Wings of Power P-51 in terms of speed and range, but again.. If it handles like the ** P-51, it can be difficult to safely takeoff and land. The ** P-51 has also been on the "questionable" list, due to its unlimited simulation of War Emergency Power allowing unrealistic speeds for entire legs (normally, if you leave WEP on too long, it will damage the engine, so you don't dare use it for longer than 3-5 minutes, ** doesn't simulate this limit). The freeware Piaggio Avanti (I think it's in the Avsim library) I think is a reasonable alternative to the payware FSD Avanti, which is another Team Avsim favorite. That's all I can think of right now... Most of my race aircraft hangar is payware aircraft, so I don't really know of too many good freeware ones...

I down loaded A twin engine B1909 Continental Air file name B19con9.zip From here of course I also Have a C130 that handles pretty good

I down loaded A twin engine B1909 Continental Air file name B19con9.zip From here of course I also Have a C130 that handles pretty good

Turboprop aircraft are limited to 2 engines, with the possible exception of corridor legs as would need to be outlined in the 2009 race rules. Since we won't know that until shortly before the race starts, it's safe to assume right now that turboprops more than 2 engines are not allowed.As another aircraft suggestion for long corridor flights, the California Classics DC-6 or DC-7 is a great choice for the long-haul corridor or wildcard flights where jets are not specifically allowed. Recommended for suitable corridor flights only, not for regular legs....

There is also a Lockheed Constellation that came out recently that would work well if we have to fly propellers on corridor legs. You really need something fairly fast for most of the legs. Sim-Outhouse was very proficient last year.Sometimes I want to see the race committee require all teams to fly the P-38 and the DC-7 / Connie so that all teams fly the same aircraft in the same weather and then the race comes down to routing and not crashing.

Turboprop aircraft are limited to 2 engines, with the possible exception of corridor legs as would need to be outlined in the 2009 race rules. Since we won't know that until shortly before the race starts, it's safe to assume right now that turboprops more than 2 engines are not allowed.As another aircraft suggestion for long corridor flights, the California Classics DC-6 or DC-7 is a great choice for the long-haul corridor or wildcard flights where jets are not specifically allowed. Recommended for suitable corridor flights only, not for regular legs....

I seem to have a Wings Of Power P-51; havnt installed it yet.My acft speeds are ground speeds, below. I fly altitudes to max ground speed in calm winds to get a picture.I tried an Avanti from Simvia - its a version(s) from Ben Pooley - Unfortunately I can only get 228 kts out of her - must be a sukky model. I have other sites to check out yet.My P-51 - only 10,000 feet out of her at 330 kts.My P-47 I got 370 kts at 20,000 feet.The default Beech350 I get 320 kts at 30,000 feet - good for those high altitude hard to reach places.The P-38 versions seem to be the same - there will be the drop-tank info we need to go over again. I have some info on it. All 3 of mine go 20-27,000 feet at 360 kts GS. I thought I did better last year.The default Comet maxes at about 10,000 feet and 224 kts GS (Didnt take off or land this beast yet).I have yet to try a Falcon 2000, CitX, and a Cit2 for jets, amongst others like the dreaded 747.I found the hawker - gonna try that.I have found, that throttle controls, prop pitch controls, are essential in takeoffs ! I can set them back nicely so I dont have so much power on takeoff; same with landing, especially on short fields; I thought jet engines have fan-blade pitch controls too, like maybe the newer ones.There is also the mention of not using upgraded avionics in our planes ? If we can use the default GPS, is an auto-gps system ok as long as we dont use it to fly-by-wire with ? I am talking about the ACS-GPS; I use this coupled with FSNAV for flight planning only.That's it from me for now - time to practice !

One of my favorites (and many others agree) is Grumman's F8F Bearcat. Excellent speed with almost enough range for a 2 hour flight. (It's marginal, but without strong headwinds you can usually do the job.) Very good all around model, VC, flight dynamics, etc.F8F-2 Long Range Bearcat by Michel Migaud, Jean Pierre Bourgeois, Jean Pierre Langer, Benoit Dub

The Bearcat is a model. Thanks for introducing me to her last year Mike!

One of my favorites (and many others agree) is Grumman's F8F Bearcat. Excellent speed with almost enough range for a 2 hour flight. (It's marginal, but without strong headwinds you can usually do the job.) Very good all around model, VC, flight dynamics, etc.F8F-2 Long Range Bearcat by Michel Migaud, Jean Pierre Bourgeois, Jean Pierre Langer, Benoit Dub