I had no idea that Piper is now a Chinese owned company... That Sucks, especially considering they were one of the Great American Plane Manufacturers. Ohh well... S**T happens.Because of FSX, I am now current again and looking at purchasing something I can have fun with, instaed of something used just to build time and get a break on tickets... So I was looking at a really nice 82 S2B out at Paso Robles, but later decided to wait to find a good Extra300 with low engine time... So still on the hunt...JB

Wow-some hot stuff! Good luck!

Wow-some hot stuff! Good luck!

LOL... Thanks... the real battle isn't finding the Extra, or pretty much paying for it (As I would be selling other toys to get it)... But convincing the wife that we are gonna incur another 400/month for a "T Hanger" since I can't just tie down the Extra like I did the Cherokee.. If you got any good recomendations on how to swing that, please lemme know... I could definately use the help...JB

LOL... Thanks... the real battle isn't finding the Extra, or pretty much paying for it (As I would be selling other toys to get it)... But convincing the wife that we are gonna incur another 400/month for a "T Hanger" since I can't just tie down the Extra like I did the Cherokee.. If you got any good recomendations on how to swing that, please lemme know... I could definately use the help...JB

Oddly enough-my wife is the one that got me into flying-and has never complained...shhhhhhh :-)You must be further west than I am-seems the further west you go the rents double. We are a little over $200/month here.

Oddly enough-my wife is the one that got me into flying-and has never complained...shhhhhhh :-)

Lucky man you are... Odly enough, my wife hates small planes, but I guess she figures, it's better than me going out every third night to bars. LOL, she hates that more than small planes...In 96, at Van Nuys, I got tie down on the Jet West ramp for free. All I had to do is let my buddy, who was a line guy at Jet West borrow my plane for his instrument. He left and I had to pay 95/month for a good tie down under an awning. Then Van Nuys started raising all the Non Part 135 Tie Downs up to some rediculous rate. I moved the plane to whiteman for 80/month. Sold the plane in 2005. At the time, T Hangers at Whiteman were around 300/month, now at Van Nuys and Whiteman there is a waiting list at 350-400 for whiteman and Van Nuys, who knows. Probably close to 500-600/month.You wanna get a kick outa prices for hangers... call Santa Monica and ask them.....A. How much for a T Hanger...B. How long is the waiting list.JB

Lucky man you are... Odly enough, my wife hates small planes, but I guess she figures, it's better than me going out every third night to bars. LOL, she hates that more than small planes...JB

Keep the threat up! ... :-lolI am originally from San Diego-think about going back to that area at some point-but those hangar prices are unreal!!!Of course you don't have to shovel feet of snow all winter long like I do in Michigan-but wow!!

Keep the threat up! ... :-lolI am originally from San Diego-think about going back to that area at some point-but those hangar prices are unreal!!!Of course you don't have to shovel feet of snow all winter long like I do in Michigan-but wow!!

Unless you wanna scare your friends in the back seats with ACTUAL, just for a hamburger at the, "Buffalo Grill", then out west, we have a longer flying season than Michigan. ;)JB

Unless you wanna scare your friends in the back seats with ACTUAL, just for a hamburger at the, "Buffalo Grill", then out west, we have a longer flying season than Michigan. ;)JB

So true... :(

So true... :(

Funny how this thread got Jacked so quickly... I'm definately at fault...LOL Anyway, I have both models and they both Kick A**. Just don't compare the two, unless you have them both.JB

Again.... RealAir is in a class by themselves acompanied by developers such as Digital Aviation, PMDG, Leaonardo and DodoSim. It just boils down to, "What do you wanna fly today?"

The Marchetti. It's been my favorite for years! And you don't have it... :( I've flown the Marchetti SF260, and my Van's RV6A is much like it, with the sliding canopy & two place side by side; although the Marchetti has space for something in back.L.Adamson

The Marchetti. It's been my favorite for years! And you don't have it... :( I've flown the Marchetti SF260, and my Van's RV6A is much like it, with the sliding canopy & two place side by side; although the Marchetti has space for something in back.L.Adamson

I've got some Rv6 right seat time and I agree-the Marchetti is a masterpiece.If we could only get our own aircraft somehow with this type of attention...

I have all of the RealAir addons for FSX except the Marcheti and I think they do a top notch job making FSX addons, but the stall buffet algorithm they have is way too digital. When you stall or spin thier aircraft, the buffet seems to either be on or off with no smooth transition between. JB

A classic post which doesn't account for limitations within FSX. To be frank you're lucky that you get any stall buffet effect at all. Like many imposed effects, it is extremely hard to get FSX to do these effects in the first place let alone refine them in the way you suggest. You can always turn the effect off - it's an option!I think the Cheyenne is a good aircraft too. Fine to state a preference, but often these threads end up like a battle of hyperbolic statements in order to exaggerate one's view. It's not a competition. It's perfectly ok to like both aircraft! Rob - RealAir

A classic post which doesn't account for limitations within FSX. To be frank you're lucky that you get any stall buffet effect at all. Like many imposed effects, it is extremely hard to get FSX to do these effects in the first place let alone refine them in the way you suggest. You can always turn the effect off - it's an option!I think the Cheyenne is a good aircraft too. Fine to state a preference, but often these threads end up like a battle of hyperbolic statements in order to exaggerate one's view. It's not a competition. It's perfectly ok to like both aircraft! Rob - RealAir

Bob, please don't take offense. I love your addons and think you all are at the top of the heap when it comes to FSX addons. I have stated nothing more than my preferences, thats all.Thanks for a bunch of killer addons...I will continue to buy your work.And for the record, The Duke, IMHO is the best Light/Med Piston twin available for FSX. In regards to the Cheyenne, IMHO it is the best Light/Med Turbine twin for FSX... When comparing the two, your comparing Apples to Oranges. And I understand the limitations those face with codong for FSX.JB

Not to hijack the thread...I noticed some folks saying DX10 looks a lot better than DX9 in FSX and I can't see why. I have flown with DX10 on and off just testing different things, and outside of cockpit shadows and some performance, DX10 does not seem to offer anything over DX9. One thing I did notice about DX10 is it doesn't seem to allow very high levels of FSAA. Going from DX9 to DX10 makes edges look jaggy, and objects seem to take on a "shimmer" from this. I am used to playing at 8x FSAA and DX10 can't seem to be able to do that.....or maybe it does and it just looks like garbage to me. lolWhat looks so much better on DX10 than DX9? I have tested it on a few different computers and DX10 just doesn't cut it, imo. Outside of cockpit shadows, what are you seeing that I am not ?Thanks!

You're absolutely right: DX9 does look better than DX10 in the AA department. There's also issues with textures and those annoying flickering asphalt taxiways in DX10. However, on my machine DX10 completely outperforms DX9. It's smoother, colors look slightly better and everything conserning "lighting" looks MUCH better. Bloom in DX9 not only kills the machine. It also looks weird at best (shines through the panel etc.) while in DX10 it makes lights "glow" like they're supposed to. Also, the specular effect on shiny surfaces look realistic in DX . Night/dusk/dawn flights in DX10 is a beautiful experience, especially if you've turned on UTX street lights.I think DX10 will give you very different results, performance-wise, depending on your hardware and it does seem that on most machines DX9 is the preferred mode. Not on mine tho... Cheers/Jonas

I have both (if somebody still cares... ).The Cheyenne has an incredible VC and exterior model, outstanding FPS (as good as default) and flies great. The night lighting in the VC is the best I've ever seen.But its gauges move jerky and are blocky. And with jerky I mean more jerky than the defaults.Nevertheless I flown this thing a lot across every continent.Then came the Duke...No Cheyenne anymore, despite the fact that the Duke easily halves my FPS. Had to turn some settings down like water from 2x to 1x, so I can keep more than 30 fps (yeah, I'm picky with that).The exterior, interior, gauges, fluidity, flight modeling, just everything is outstanding.Can't get my fingers off it.Alex

You're absolutely right: DX9 does look better than DX10 in the AA department. There's also issues with textures and those annoying flickering asphalt taxiways in DX10. However, on my machine DX10 completely outperforms DX9. It's smoother, colors look slightly better and everything conserning "lighting" looks MUCH better. Bloom in DX9 not only kills the machine. It also looks weird at best (shines through the panel etc.) while in DX10 it makes lights "glow" like they're supposed to. Also, the specular effect on shiny surfaces look realistic in DX . Night/dusk/dawn flights in DX10 is a beautiful experience, especially if you've turned on UTX street lights.I think DX10 will give you very different results, performance-wise, depending on your hardware and it does seem that on most machines DX9 is the preferred mode. Not on mine tho... Cheers/Jonas

You can get the EMB (ENB?) series plug-in that adds bloom to the DX9 and there is no performance loss. My machine is completely DX10 compliant (see signature). It is the FSAA that bugs me. DX10 does get me better performance, but it comes at a loss of FSAA which makes things less appealing (to me). I hear you though regarding the performance, it is better in DX10.