I'm looking for a fast advanced prop for flying IFR, and doing some sightseeing too. The turbine Duke seems like the obvious choice, but I was wondering if anybody had any other suggestions. I was looking forward to the Carenado Malibu, but it looks like the views outside of the cockpit might be a bit too restricted for my tastes. I love to see the water around the islands i'm flying into, or the city as I fly into KSFO :)

RealAir SF260 Marchetti or Carenado C337.

Speaking of Carenado, the C340 is probably my favorite prop, and I think it meets all your criteria.

Opinions on these versus the Duke?

The C337 is an in-line twin, so you get to see the terrain below. The Duke is a conventional twin and the engines prevent you seeing anything to the side of the aircraft. That said, the flight model of the RAS Duke is better than that of the Carenado C337.Cheers,Noel.

Edited January 18, 201214 yr by Virtualwombat

As stated, the view from the cockpit of the Duke is very limited by the engines. The Carenado C337 has a far superior view from the cockpit because of its push/pull engine orientation.

The RealAir planes are made with a lot of attention to detail, the Carenado aircraft are madewith more artistic flair... there is a definite difference of style which some like more, or not so.Depends on what you are particular about.The Marchetti is a real classic - hard to say something bad about it, except that it is a bit clinical..probably just like the real thing..The C337 is Carenado's latest and finest, and is quite enjoyable to fly.. there is a recent Avsim reviewwhich you might want to look for. in it's day, the Marchetti also got a gold star award.Either one will do nicely, for what you want (IFR and sightseeing).

Edited January 18, 201214 yr by Bert Pieke

I got a couple of hours in a real 337 a few years back, and it got a bit hairy, which had put me off of it. Everybody seems to love it, so I may have to pick it up and see how she does.

RealAir SF260 Marchetti or Carenado C337.

Gotta love the SF260, a high performance, single engine prop with excellent visibility and excellent performance as well. Plus its made by RealAir, so the FDE is top notch.

Edited January 18, 201214 yr by Sekstifire

My personal choice of single engined IFR fast mover is the IRIS Raytheon T-6A. Lately I have been flying the Carenado 210 Turbo, it is just 50 kts slower. You can get a free download of a 1st cousin from IRIS out there someplace. The panel is super easy to modify and has a great VC and as good a 2d as there ever was. Practically everything pops up for enlarged instrument views. I changed out the AP, A/S, Altimeter, added a different xponder and a few other goodies and moved a few low placed items more in front of me. It is about as personalized as possible and absolutely screams.I paid $5 bucks for it during the Christmas sale of 2010. By far, my best FSX purchase ever.For a twin, the Carenado 337H with the turbo fix is my current favorite. The Aerosoft OV-10 Bronco will have a big update in 2 -3 weeks or so and promises to be to only twin prop I know with near Accu-sim qualities. Once you fly with Accu-sim it is most difficult to go back to ordinary, no matter how good it is. They just don't have a twin out yet.Rayedited to correct the spelling of Raytheon. duh.

Edited January 18, 201214 yr by raymar

The turbine Duke seems like the obvious choice

Yes! 300 KN cruise, great range and in and out of the shortest fields (1,200 ft.) Also very well modelled by Real Air. And there's a discount if you purchase the bundle with the Piston Duke.The only drawback is high-wing aircrafft generally offer better visibility for sighseeing.Cheers,- jahman.

Hi.Try the TBM700. TV

Bay Tower's RV-7! You will get a taildragger and trycicle and also the choice between a sliding canopy and one that you tip up: the latter gives an awesome view on the scenery. it has everything you need, really, including a cool configurator for setting up various items (some of them I've never seen before in another addon). Speed is great, handling too. All in all one of the best if not THE best GA around. I've been flying nothing else since the day I bought it. And o yes, support is incredible: the dev is on the forum constantly, so it seems. Highly recommended!The plane is still in beta and you have to register to the forum to get acces to the official Flight1 wrapper. But don't let 'beta' fool you: the dev just keeps improving on things and calls it a beta, while other devs might have released this version as the final version a long time ago already. :(

Ditto on the Baytower RV-7, and the Carenado 337 is also very nice for sightseeing. And with the 337, you get the totally hilarious (but realistic) gear retraction/extension cycle. :(

The fastest recip would be the Orbx Lancair IV-P - highly recommended. It's low wing so the sightseeing factor won't be the best but it's no worse than the Duke or any other twin. The downside is that the plane is tough to get into small strips (less than 3000ft).Tough choice though... I'd say between the Lancair, T210M, SF260, and C337....