Since someone mentioned planes I'd recommend Baytower RV7 - fast but very slow, excellent visibility from cockpit due to short wings.

Similar to FS Economy but with some added features is Air Hauler. Well worth the price. I've been addicted for weeks now. Also, Ideal Flight is a nice add on for random flight generation and grading. A new version is due soon. Rex Latitude sounds interesting. I may have to check that one out.

One final question I have, is icing simulated in FS9 and FSX? This applies to both structural icing and pitot icing (not visual, performance related i mean). 

FSX has a reasonable analysis of your flight, especially regarding how much altitude you gained and lost, and it's free. I think three of the best exercises are as follows:

 

1. Take-off from a small airfield and set a moderate wind to be roughly 45 degrees angle to the runway. Set yourself a circuit height of say 1200 feet, then climb away and try to maintain exact parallel and perpendicular directions on cross, downwind and base legs (crabbing slightly to compensate for the wind) and lose or gain no more than 50 feet when straight and level, or more than 5 knots deviation from predicted or desired speeds around the circuit. Then land just beyond the numbers on the centre line. That should keep anyone busy for hours!

 

2. Set clouds to be low and visibility to minimum then fly a join or a VOR or NDB approach using instruments but no autopilot. That should keep you happy for days rather than hours.

 

3. Fly from anywhere and practice maintaining altitude with no autopilot and no deviation in speed or height while doing multiple shallow then steep turns.

 

You'll only need three analogue instruments for exercise 1 and 3: Airspeed, Altimeter, Attitude Indicator. Everything else is padding!

Welcome to the low and slow side!

 

In addition to the good suggestions above, here are a couple more:

 

Plan G, freeware flight planning software, perfect for VFR flight plans.

 

A2A J-3 Cub with Accu-Sim, wonderful stick-and-rudder experience.  Accu-Sim is a separate purchase (or bundled at a discount) that adds many good features.

 

A2A Cessna 172 with Accu-Sim, due for release any day now, a whole new level of realism in GA aircraft.

 

Aerosoft/4X Katana, currently available and offers many features similar to the A2A 172, though not in as much depth.

 

Hope this helps.

 

True all this!

 

Wanna fly like most broke arse pilots? Get an Ipad or Andriod tablet and download fltplan mobile. Great tool! Free! Does not link to FSX easily unless of course you have FSUIPC paid version then you can use GPSout and use fltplan mobiles moving map feature (think... skyvector linked to FSX).

 

http://www.fltplan.com/

For quick picking a flight plan? Just go skyvector website on your PC or tablet!

 

When you tire of singles (I never do) you can spice up with a small twin. Want high quality but not complex? Get Real Air Duke! Want something in a prop but at the level of the NGX in complexity and quality? Get the JS41 from PMDG. In fact more complex I have heard. I love it.

 

With ORBX scenery... I like finding flying school tests like this and replicate them... http://www.langleyflyingschool.com/Pages/Cross-Country%20Navigation%20Requirements%20and%20Routes.html

 

Charles.