does no one else think it takes quite a lot of fun out of it?

 

Well, you may look at it like this. But please remember flight crews mostly consist of two people today.

So I find having an interactive pilot very very realistic and a lot of fun. Especially in the voice version when you can speak like in real life.

my vote goes this way,

1. q400 - wins because of the innovative flight model, and also it gets fps like a beast, like a default aircraft type of fast even with a beautifully modeled VC. not to mention turboprops underrepresented among the big players, it's a fresh change of pace. my favorite flyer and the most hours by far for 2013!

 

2. 777 - it's awesome but loses a few wow factor points because it's basically a more-automated 737 and after flying the q400 i always wonder if the fancy vnav is really worth 30% framerate less lol. amazing plane though i have a few hundred hours on it at least!

 

3. a2a cessna - you know, i wanna love this, but it's been a rocky rollout, i hate having to manually edit files just to get them to work, to their credit the info is there on the forums but i feel like the installer should be smart about that. still in my 'promising but not holding my attention at the moment' bin. in the air it's really great and i expect to spend a lot more time in this plane. the 377 from a2a is my all time favorite fsx plane so maybe i'm just having too high expectations heh

 

cheers,

-andy crosby

With the release of the 777 sp1 I am starting to come to grips with the fact that long range super-automated flight is not my thing really. The fps hit for all these automated systems is quite heavy as well. So I am still looking for a yin to my NGX's yang. This thread just convinced me to buy the Q400.

Q400 so easy on the framerate and a challenge to fly.

Get them all. They are all fantastic addons (NGX too).

After purchasing the Q400, and taking a few days to learn it, I can now see why everyone loves it so much. The systems are complex, detailed, and demanding of attention and flying by hand is a real challenge because the flight model is so unbelievably good. With their use of the NASA-derived engine, it gives new meaning to the cliché “NASA wants their computer back”. The plane has a real personality (sometimes frightening) when you are on final approach. If you look at Dash 8 YouTube videos, you will see it's doing an honest interpretation. On top of all that substance, it gets 30+ FPS everywhere, and it plays Strauss’ Blue Danube (among other musical pieces) to your passengers during pre-flight, but I can’t help but enjoy it myself in the cockpit. Majestic’s Dash 8 just reeks of character and class, on top of all that technical proficiency.     

 

Majestic Dash 8 vs. PMDG 777? I think it’s a tie. The 777 is a marvel, something a techie needs to experience atleast once in his or her life. It is PMDG’s magnus opus, and perhaps the most cutting edge airplane created for FSX yet. There is something about the Q400 though that seems to have more character and spunk, which for me translates to more fun.