If you enjoy your light aircraft to be of of the working, 'utility' kind then perhaps the Alabeo Pawnee or the Aerosoft Wilga, or as suggested above the Sibwings Birddog.

 

The Legacy is very lovely, but oh sooo slippery.

Check out the Sibwings bird dog and saab safir. They are very nice additions to any hangar.

Yes, these should both be considered I think. Love them.

 

I got all your mentioned candidates and would agree the lancair is ace. But you cant go wrong with the Katana either. That is if you're not in a hurry, cus it aint fast. Faster than the Cub though. The lancair is a rocket.

 

B55 is quite different being a twin. It's heavy on the FPS on my system. Dunno why really.

I got most of what has been suggested. From what you stated, I suggest the A36 Bonanza; the Piston Duke being a close second choice, not too fast and an overall winner. (I prefer it over the Turbine Duke),

 

The Lancair is just great, but does not seem appropriate for cold Winter PNW-Alaska flying,

the F1 T182T is also quite nice, but you prefer steam gauges. The Carenado Grand Caravan lacks tundra tires, floats and skis so it is not suited for small fields or bush flying. The others you already have them.

 

Just bought the Carenado A36 Bonanza.a couple weeks ago and it has become my all around favorite. It just needs some minor tweaks like the free enhanced 430 GPS, an easily done IFR instrument view via F10, and even though it is a fuel injected engine it needs a 3 line XML gauge to fix an FSX bug that takes care of carb icing. Add shockwave lights and voila, you have a winner.

 

I’ll be getting some Alabeo’s in Spring-Summer, and then I can try myself doing some crop dusting!!

 

Cheers.

Just bought the Carenado A36 Bonanza

 

Bernt did that FDE too...I'd not be surprised if it was great. Allows future integration with RealityXP too.

 

Gregg

Which plane is it that you REALLY fancy Rich? Because that's the one to go for every time.

Live in the present, or wait for A2A's Cessna 172 and/or Piper Comanche...

The Legacy is more analog than you think it is. Yeah it can be outfitted with the RealityXP stuff, but by default it comes with RealAir's usual Bendix King stack + default GPS. For an IFR platform it gives you HSI for nav1, CDI for nav 2, and ADF. It is a very nice flier, Very fast...it's achillies heel is it is like the SF-260 and not really a bush plane...so some of those short bush strips are out of the question.

 

If you want something competely different, try Classics Hangar BF-108 Taifun. It has an IFR panel version, while loaded with 'exotic' German instruments, they are quite logical once you figure them out. Great STOL abilities and cruises about 140kts. Very beautiful in the VC and tops system simulation wise for that plane. It reminds me of sitting in a vintage Mercedes..

 

A2A P-51 is a real race horse...anything with Accusim is an awesome experience, You really have to be on your toes with that plane with it's big Merlin up front. Not a bush plane LOL

 

My favorite is the Baytower RV-7. Take your Scouts STOL abilities, then mix them with the SF-260's speed, aerobatic, and X-country abilities and you have the RV-7. The RV cruises around 160kts, can operate comfortably out of 800' strips, I got it in and out of Dewey Moore...with full fuel. With that full fuel, I can usually get about 800NM out of it. Nav setup wise it has a single HSI and GNS530 nav/com unit. It would be nice to have an ADF, but in reality the trend is modern GAs are going to GPSs, and most NDB approaches are in the GPS., so you can really cover almost all IFR situations. The good thing is that it goes through the Fligh1 wrapper so it has the 30 day trial deal.

 

No matter what you get, make sure you get Accu-feel with it too

 

Cheers

TJ

Which plane is it that you REALLY fancy Rich? Because that's the one to go for every time.

 

More wisdom in that statement than you know. How many airplanes have I bought that, very soon, end up in the hangar.

 

Gregg

More wisdom in that statement than you know. How many airplanes have I bought that, very soon, end up in the hangar.

 

Gregg

 

Very wise indeed. Thank you all for taking the time to reply. It is very much appreciated and has given me a lot to think about. I told myself not to buy any more Carenado's due to the FDEs, but recommendations for those that Bernt Stolle has revised are interesting. I will look at those. I may steer clear of the older ones as i am a fan of 3D gauges. Once you experience them, i find it hard to go back.

 

Live in the present, or wait for A2A's Cessna 172 and/or Piper Comanche...

 

Again - a very wise suggestion. Perhaps i should just be patient, or settle for something less-than-perfect in the meantime. I do wonder when A2A's creations will surface... i am unsure of their usual dev. cycle. Hopefully not as long as Level-D's... hahah!

RealAir Lancair is tops. Make sure to use the air brakes (/ key) on approach!

 

Cheers jja

One more for the Legacy, it's simply the best GA aircraft currently available.

Wise eh? That was cutting edge satire I'll have you know!

Reading through this lot and reading between Rich's lines I'd say, without fear of him coming and saying "That was the worst advice evah!", get a Baytower's RV7. You'll thank me and anyone else who suggested it. Really.

 

While the Lancair Legacy IS first class, I love it, it's not truly a 'go anywhere' aeroplane. It does need a fairly long runway and a lot of serious concentration and speed management to land in a dignified manner.

One more vote for the RV7. It's fairly quick, can go really high if needed and works for IFR too. Most of all however, it's fun! Like most planes it will get you there, but more than almost any other it will get you there smiling.

to land in a dignified manner.

 

This is the high bar I strive for. ROFL.

Oh golly... so many quality ones to think of... I can't decide... so I'll make your decision harder LOL

 

First off I'd get the RXP 430W or 530W - they just added an updated navdata its in their forums...this way you can fly /G with 200 ft minimums (sometimes for LPV)

 

RealAir Legacy (super quick and excellent "steam" gauge IFR platform) - can use RXP GNS's

RealAir Turbine Duke (same but turboprop for longer trips) - RXP

BayTower RV7 (nimble with excellent flight dynamics, low stall speed) - RXP 530

Carenado King Airs (both fde's by Bernt Stolle) - RXP 430 in 90 I think and 530/430 in BE20

Milviz C310 and Baron (can't tell which one is more fun, but both have superb asymmetric modeling) - will take RXP 530 I believe

Carenado C337 (great view from the cockpit, excellent fde speed-wise around RV7, complex) - RXP 530

Flight1 T182T (wonderful with navigraph support and glass G1000)

Aerosoft Katana 4x (a bit slow but superb modeling with many other functions you can do/systems modeling is amazing - probably the most realistic appearing panel to date ) - RXP 530

 

Those are the ones I can think of with IFR flying at the moment... actually I don't think the Katana has the equipment for IFR flight (could be wrong)... But if the Legacy (my favorite) is too fast consider the RV7, C337 instead. They'll go about 170-180 ktas...