I have to say I enjoy PMDG's 1900 for out of the box dynamics. Eaglesoft's CJ-1 is also nice--a great hand flyer. And I also like Carenado's dynamics, in my case the Bonanza V35...-John

HiThanks for the ideas.Now I need to go and find me a lot of planes!ThanksP

the Vistaliners 727 with Fraser Turner's FDE'salso their DC9's with his FDE.and the Dash 7,Aerocommander series,and Howard 500 by Milton & team.all very good planes.top of line,for me,is HJG's DC8 though.once you know her,she flies lovely :)tataJP.

Give me a break folks!!!! How could anyone forget Steve Small's FSD a/c?!? He's the hands down best FDE designer IMHO!:-)

>Give me a break folks!!!! How could anyone forget Steve>Small's FSD a/c?!? He's the hands down best FDE designer>IMHO!>Actually, there are three FDE designers that I hold high regard for. I'm sure there are others, but I'm not as familiar with other names or associated products. I can always count on Steve Small, Rob Young, and Ron Freimuth to program airplanes that seem to "feel" very right, as well being very acceptable in the "numbers" range. L.Adamson

Hi allFor me it has to be Dave Maltby's VC10. As I understand it he has it so accurate that he was able to fly the real RAF simulator and land.All I need now is a sim that works so I can enjoy it.Other favourites are:Eurowings Bae 146 and airbus A320and project tupolev's Tu 154regardsGraham

I'll give you one guess which aeroplane gets my vote!CheersTimhttp://members.chello.nl/t.westnutt/realair1.gif

Hi All; I don't know where to stick this reply so I'll just attach it tothe orig post. I have read a number of posts dealing with this subject, togetherwith claims for various aircraft/designers and have always come awaywith the same questions nagging me.1. If you are not "type rated" ,and current in an aircraft how can you offer an informed opinion on its realism?2. Even if the above conditions are met; and you fly, or have flown only one aircraft of that type...ie; owning it, or renting the same aircraft all the time; how can you be sure that it has exactly the same handling quirks as it sister ships. Now what brings the last question to mind is my own experience.. as a pilot and an aircraft dispatcher listening to USAF pilots gripe about specific planes. When I took my flight instruction back in 1970....and NO I didn'thave to run dinosaurs of the runway before take off:P the FBO hadsix new PA28's and I believe they had sequential serial no's, at leastI was told the did. All six of these planes had different handling feel but one inparticular 90U flew like....well...like trying to manuver a concretecanoe in a pond full of Jello. Even at cruise speed, this evil tempered beast, handled like itwas near stall speed. Every student and instructor would gripe ifthey drew it. It was in the shop more than in the air...but there's not much amechanic can do about "It just dosen't fly right"x( They had reps from Piper come look at and fly it but could findnothing wrong...or different about it. Of course I drew it for my first solo xc and the dam thing nearlykilled me twice in five hours.

x( I just hate when my butter fingers hit the wrong key and then theedit thingie doesn't work. The upshot to all of the above is what do you all think? Really interested to know if I'm the only one thinking along theselines. Denny

Well the aircraft I find most pleasent to hand fly is PMDG B1900D, 737NG, Realair Spitfire, Wings of Power B17 and Lancastrian and MAAM DC3.Hard to say what is more real. Though some of these came close to the fluid motion of IL 2 which is the benchmark for me. Flying should be smooth and fluid but I may be wrong about that lol.So I guess for my needs a "smooth" flight model is more important than one that hits some numbers spot on.

Hi!Very interesting thoughts, I fairly agree with you. I must say, I am not myself a pilot, but I think I can get your point. Maybe it's kinda driving 2 old cars, even when they're same model, each one can have a distinctive feeling in many details. However, even if these peculiarities are hard replicable in the simulator, remains the importance of the general performance and feelings of the flight model, which can be quite close to those of the real "average" aircraft. So it makes a sense talking about F.M., obviously more sense if you actually fly the aircraft :)

Well, personally I don't think being a pilot in R/L necessarily makes one a good judge of the flight models in the sim. I really only take an interest in a pilots perspective when I know that pilot is also a "simmer" as well. I actually think pilots who aren't also familiar with the inherent characteristics and limitations of PC flightsims are possibly even worse judges than somebody with no r/w experience at all becuase they will have such a hard time accepting the "oddness" of the sim. There is still just so much that isn't the same as the real experience. But a pilot who also knows the sim inside and out is a great source of info.I think for me anyway, a good flight model has to have a certain "fluidity", it has to be free of glaring flaws in performance, it has to capture the "flavour" of the particular plane in question, and it has to require me to fly within a realistic and believable set of parameters. As far as capturing the feel of individual examples of a given type of plane, I don't think we're there yet and I'm not certain we really need to be. That is however a great way to rationalize minor little deviations from the "book numbers" that no models are entirely free of. :)Personally, my favorites to fly are the RealAir (free) C172, SF260 and Spitfire, the freeware Morane Saulnier and Constellation, the Dreamfleet Archer, Flight1's Meridian, and Milton Shupes' Rockwell Shrike...

My current favs:PMDG 737NG and B1900Anything RealAir Simulations makesFlight1 ATRDF727

Eaglesoft's Citation XPMDG 737-600/700/800/900

Hi everyone. Greetings to all! New arrival/ first post!FD's are very important, I therefore felt I should contribute so;-- Dreamfleet Archer for having been validated by an owner/pilot.- VC10 Validated by current military pilot on type.- Jet provost. Slightly more sensitive than Realworld but otherwise.. In the same vein, De Havilland Chipmunk. I learnt to fly on it and its bang on; except - mine had a cartridge starter so every flight started with a most agreeable Bang! :)- Hawker Hunter, validated by ex frontline pilot on type.- Boeing Stratocruiser; within 3% of numbers and a challenge and a joy.- Miltons Dash7 and 500 - so good!- Realair; so excellent.- 707-420, very close.- et al. I cannot think...One's I love, seem right, but cannot validate [but would like validated;]sga dc9, BAC 1-11, Viscountsimmers sky md11kittyhawk 727Dassault Super entendardA340