I'm a huge fan of the Spartan Executive, by Milton Shupe. Great plane to fly, not all that tough to land or take off from small or "unimproved" strips. Also, the Cessna 195 in it's three basic configurations, Floats, Skis, and Tundra Tires, by "Lizardo".

A couple of very fun aircraft to fly, and the 195 will stop on a dime. Ideal for VERY short, unimproved runways, and of course, there is the float vrsion for lakes, rivers and so on that fishermen and the Alaskan's love so much!

Those are my two choices, barring the Bell 206B III, by OWEN HEWITT, in all it's million various paints and slight configurations variations. Fantastic for passengers or photographers/movie makers.

For chopper flight low and fast, like in mountains and vallies, the MD500E, by the Nemeths, or killer egg as I used to call it, is a blast to fly Light, agile, and very maneuverable, yet great slow-speed and hover characteristics.

 

Pat☺

Reading the above - I must agree that the "best bang for the buck" plane would be the RealAir SF260.

 

It has great visibility and is fast... a "must have" in any collection, although, if you want to spend the money, the new RealAir Legacy has it beat on all fronts..

 

Edit...  Only one passenger, though!

short untill 600 nm : F1 PC12

Medium till 1000nm : F1 Mustang

Long range till 3500 nm : Eagle soft Citation X  (C750)

Good flights ?

Serge

short till 600 nm : F1 PC12

medium till 1000 nm : F1 Mustang

long range till 3500 : Eaglesoft Citation X (c750)

Serge

No matter what GA plane you get, get A2A accufeel....(excluding the A2A Cherokee/172 or any other A2A plane with it's accusim pack as they already have it).  Accufeel greatly enhances the airplane environment. 

 

Agreed, AccuFeel is a must-have, especially for GA flying. One of the essential FSX addons.

 

As for aircraft, I'll second the A2A Cherokee - excellent for slow sightseeing tours. A bit pricey though. If you want something to get in and out of small airstrips, consider the Realair Scout or the Aerosoft Beaver. Both come with plenty of variants (tundra wheels, floats, amphibian...) and fly very nicely.

If you like classic aircraft, you have to try Manfred Jahn's C-47 V2. It can get in and out of quite small airfields, and is reasonably fast to cover some distance. One of the very best addons, period - and it's free!

MilViz C310 and B55 are two of the best GA twins. Both are a joy to fly and both can be paired with the Mindstar Garmin GNS units, RXP Garmin GNS units, or Flight 1 Garmin GTN units.

 

The Carenado C337 is another good one. Both Mindstar and RXP GNS units work.

 

I also would check out the Eaglesoft SR22 Turbo as a nice, fast piston single (and includes a functional CAPS system).

 

Jet - I second the Eaglesoft Citation X. This is one of my favorites.

 

Decisions, decisions.

 

Todd

Also consider either the Reality XP GNS series or the F1 GTX series, they are much more realistic garmin than the default. (realistic flight plan entry, correct OBS function...etc)  Most planes mentioned above have 3d integration for reality XP.  F1 GTX 3D integration should start happening soon since it is a very new release.

 

Agreed, I'd go so far as to say realistic Garmin GPS (RXP GNS430/530 or F1 GTN 750/650) is fundamental to having a good cross-country GA experience. Trip planning features such as VNAV T/D calculation, useful range and fuel usage (that shows real-time fuel burn changes as you lean the mix, making fuel efficient flight that much easier), automatic density altitude calculation... lots of things that makes cross-country flight more interesting and better planned.

 

BTW, another vote for the Lancair Legacy. If I could have only one GA plane, that would probably be it. Turbine Duke is great too, but I'd wait for v2. 

+1 for the Flight1 GTN750