Hi All,Been thinking about adding a GA prop/jet to the FSX hangar, kinda considering the following: > RA turbine duke--looks great, like the sf260 so a known quantity, VC not photoreal (like no screws on the panel) so "cartoonish" as someone said, but able to drop in RXP GNS430 a big plus.> aerosoft katana x4--like the DA Do27, excellent modeling, smallish and slow but fascinating. No support for GNS430 a big minus (don't want to spend another $50 for GNS530)> carenado c340--looks like my favorite King Air but carenado support site has no updates regarding bug fixes, not much activity, gorgeous plane inside and out, looks like a single GNS430 can be installed.> F1 mustang--really tempting but somewhat scared about the frames even on my box. Searched old threads/avsim reviews on the above and also found fs-flightcrew.de has good reviews but hard to decide, even if some come with 30 day trial period. Btw, I leave big jets and older planes for FS9, FSX is just for carrier ops with FA18 and T45 goshawk and some GA flying on the relatively slow and low but awsome DA cheyenne. Recently got REX and GEXNA so can do more GA flying. Advice is appreciated!Pat

Hi All,Been thinking about adding a GA prop/jet to the FSX hangar, kinda considering the following: > RA turbine duke--looks great, like the sf260 so a known quantity, VC not photoreal (like no screws on the panel) so "cartoonish" as someone said, but able to drop in RXP GNS430 a big plus.> aerosoft katana x4--like the DA Do27, excellent modeling, smallish and slow but fascinating. No support for GNS430 a big minus (don't want to spend another $50 for GNS530)> carenado c340--looks like my favorite King Air but carenado support site has no updates regarding bug fixes, not much activity, gorgeous plane inside and out, looks like a single GNS430 can be installed.> F1 mustang--really tempting but somewhat scared about the frames even on my box. Searched old threads/avsim reviews on the above and also found fs-flightcrew.de has good reviews but hard to decide, even if some come with 30 day trial period. Btw, I leave big jets and older planes for FS9, FSX is just for carrier ops with FA18 and T45 goshawk and some GA flying on the relatively slow and low but awsome DA cheyenne. Recently got REX and GEXNA so can do more GA flying. Advice is appreciated!Pat

Hmm, I own a couple of the planes you are considering..1. The Mustang is really well done, but it comes with a G1000... Learning curve if you have never used one. Framerates are acceptable, even on my [email protected]. The Turbine Duke is exceptional (hope you have read the recent Avsim review). Here you can use your RXP 430.3. The Carenado 340 is OK, but not in the same league IMHO. It looks nice, but the cockpit and avionics are not finished to the degree the other two are.If you already own the Cheyenne and like it, the Mustang would offer the most in terms of new things to explore.The Duke would be the most similar, but with a very different personality.Either one would be a great aircraft to fly cross country in.If, on the other hand, you would like a fun aircraft to go for shorter flights in,I would recommend the RealAir Scout which I fly often. No GPS, just simple VOR to VOR navigation.Choices, choices..

F1 mustang--really tempting but somewhat scared about the frames even on my box.

Don't be scared. I just bought the F1 mustang and I love it. Its a fun easy plane to fly in (IMHO). Yes you will lose a few FPS with the mustang, not much, but some. If you can run FSX smoothly then you should have no problems It runs nice on my system - its the same system your running, with all sliders max.:(

I have both the Turbine Duke and the Mustang, both are excellent although from a performance point of view the Duke runs much much better, personally I prefer the look of the Duke VC than the Mustang - although other than the FPS drop you can't fault the Mustang. For your reference on my rig I get 30 frames with the Duke with the RXP 530+430 on, with the Mustang I am lucky to get 15-20.When it comes to choosing them though I would see what your priorities are, the Mustang is faster, flies higher and needs much more real estate to land / takeoff. The Duke can get it and out of about 1000ft and has an initial climb rate of about 4000 ft/min - for me it is the perfect aircraft for those small Alaskan strips.If I could only have one then it would be the Duke by a long shot, although that is about where and what I fly as much as the product.G

> F1 mustang--really tempting but somewhat scared about the frames even on my box.

Flight 1 have a 30-day money back guarantee, so if you find that the mustang cannot run properly on your system, you can get a refund. I recommend the ORBX Lancair, and the Carenado planes.

Been thinking about adding a GA prop/jet to the FSX hangar, kinda considering the following: > RA turbine duke--> aerosoft katana x4--> carenado c340--> F1 mustang--r

I have all those except the Carenado C340. They're all awesome! I know I know, not making your decision any easier. I'd probably go for the Turbine Duke. It's fast (not quite as fast as the C510 though), but it can go high (not much lower than the C510), the RXP 430W works perfectly - and is what I use at the moment. Granted, the Mustang has its own G1000 which is amazing as a gauge, the best G1000 for FSX to date. I posted in another thread, I lose about 25-30% fps compared to default C172 VC in the Duke. I lose about 45% in the Mustang. If you're rocking a speedy system it won't matter both will run great. One of the best things about the Duke is that it can get into those small bush strips, and the beta range helps a lot.On another note the Katana 4x has amazing systems (And the VC looks incredible - very photorealistic)... it will really change the way you fly. But it's so damn slow LOL! I love flying that thing if I'm in a "realistic" mood, but I don't take it very far at all. I wish the Katana 4x was a Diamond Star hehe.I'm not a huge fan of Carenado's FDE department but someone did an excellent job with the fde on their latest release - The Centurion T210M. You might consider that as well - cruises about 190 TAS.Someone mentioned the Orbx Lancair! Heck ya!! Another superb choice. Very fast (maybe 230 TAS) and interesting to hand fly hehe. Not the best for bush strips though as it actually need a fair amount of runway for takeoff and landing. Also compatible with RXP stuff. I have a 430W mod plus lightmaps if you end up getting it.

Have you considered the Flight1 Cessna T182T SkyLane? She's a beautiful GA TurboCharged G1000 Equipped Aircraft, A little FPS intense but not as much as the Mustang. http://www.flight1.c...product=f1t182tAlso a Fantastic bargaIn as well as being a great GA Twin is the Milviz Cessna 310Rhttp://www.flight1.c...p?product=c310rBoth from Flight1 with 30 days to decide if you like them enough to keep them.

Thank you everyone for the advice!I guess some can be cross off and there are some new ones to consider... But seems like the duke and mustang both have the 'wow' factor that cannot be ignored.I'll do more research and look at more youtube vids. Pat

Some more to add to the mix, all of which I have and which I enjoy flying (which is bush flying mostly).1) Aerosoft's Twin Otter X2) Aerosoft's Beaver X3) Lionheart's Kodiak4) Real Air's Catabria/Decathlon package (or anything RealAir basically, including the Siai Marchetti)5) Eaglesoft's Twin ComancheI'd avoid the Dornier DO-27 from Aerosoft, which is an old FS9 port and very, very hard on the frame rates! I have everything Carenado, but if I were to choose just one from them, it would be the Mooney. Not their latest and greatest but fun to fly nevertheless. Lionheart's Epic Victory VLJ is another light jet alternative if the price of the Mustang puts you off.

I recently bought the Katana 4X and I'm impressed so far. On my first flight I took it on a 45 minutes trip ove ORBX PNW with REX weather engine. While cruising over the mountains there was some really nasty turbulence and I was fighting the joystick and trimming constantly to maintain level.Upon arrival to my destination, I noticed that as speed decreased on final, the aircraft would not respond to pitch commands as it was supossed to. I switched views to external and noticed that the whole elevator assembly was vibrating big time, almost to the point of getting separated from the tail. Needless to say I crash landed a few feet short of the runway.After that flight, I could not get the Katana to fly correctly. The tail would vibrate and the elevator would barely respond to inputs. At first I thought it was a bug and reinstalled the plane couple of times to no avail. I was ready to request support from Aerosoft when I decided to take a look at the menus the Katana places under the "view" tab in FSX. I found that you could make a "walk-around" and look for trouble spots while you aircraft is parked. It turns out that the tail section was indeed damaged, and had to use the "Maintenance" menu to get it fixed.I still cannot believe that my careless flying could bring about such failures in a simulated plane! The Katana will keep track of how well you treat her and respond accordingly. You can wash her, change oil and clean pitot tubes among other things. Simply amazing. For US $33 I really think is a steal when you take into account all the features of the package!

I guess some can be cross off and there are some new ones to consider... But seems like the duke and mustang both have the 'wow' factor that cannot be ignored.I'll do more research and look at more youtube vids. Pat

Just to keep you looking some more... if you like tinkering with your aircraft, and you have the RXP 430W and the RXP Unlimited package installed,then (and only then) you can turn the Carenado Baron into a really nicepersonal touring plane.If you go that route, send me a PM and I'll send you the panel mods as well asan autopilot mod to make it all work nicely. This one has zero framerate impact....and looks gorgeous! :(

I recently bought the Katana 4X and I'm impressed so far. On my first flight I took it on a 45 minutes trip ove ORBX PNW with REX weather engine. While cruising over the mountains there was some really nasty turbulence and I was fighting the joystick and trimming constantly to maintain level.Upon arrival to my destination, I noticed that as speed decreased on final, the aircraft would not respond to pitch commands as it was supossed to. I switched views to external and noticed that the whole elevator assembly was vibrating big time, almost to the point of getting separated from the tail. Needless to say I crash landed a few feet short of the runway.After that flight, I could not get the Katana to fly correctly. The tail would vibrate and the elevator would barely respond to inputs. At first I thought it was a bug and reinstalled the plane couple of times to no avail. I was ready to request support from Aerosoft when I decided to take a look at the menus the Katana places under the "view" tab in FSX. I found that you could make a "walk-around" and look for trouble spots while you aircraft is parked. It turns out that the tail section was indeed damaged, and had to use the "Maintenance" menu to get it fixed.I still cannot believe that my careless flying could bring about such failures in a simulated plane! The Katana will keep track of how well you treat her and respond accordingly. You can wash her, change oil and clean pitot tubes among other things. Simply amazing. For US $33 I really think is a steal when you take into account all the features of the package!

sounds like a joystick calibration problem .....

Katana x4 is definitely cool, I really enjoy Marcel's Do27 in FS9. Only issue is an additional $50 for the RXP530. Bert, I looked into the Baron, sure looks like a nice plane, I enjoy DF's A36 and its twin version is a cool craft to be sure. $100 for the unlimited pkg--I see the benefits but that's about 2 planes... The c340 is not as good as the Baron? 1x or 2x 430w without cross fill possible?Thanks, everyone, the list grew again...PatNote to self: wish RealAir did an updated B200 King Air, the FS9 version by Aerowork was (is) great.

sounds like a joystick calibration problem .....

Nope - it's just the accuracy of the systems and the fact that things break sometimes lol...Do a quick maneuver in the yellow arc and that might be the end of the elevator assembly

Katana x4 is definitely cool, I really enjoy Marcel's Do27 in FS9. Only issue is an additional $50 for the RXP530.

Not sure exactly what you mean, but just to clarify, the RXP530 integration is an option. You do not need to buy the RXP unit to enjoy the Katana 4X - it comes with a GPS500 based on the FSX default.