Lou said it - you get extrodinary value from most payware. Freeware aircraft can often have visual models that are right up there with the payware. But, the visual model isn't of huge importance to me. The reason I get payware aircraft is that the panels, sounds, and most importantly the flight dynamics are far better than the freeware ones for the most part. Flight dynamics are a very tough subject, and there are only a handful of people out there that can really do them right, so I'm more than willing to pay a bit of money for all the work they've put in to them.I also must agree that the Dreamfleet planes are some of the best addons out there, their new Bonanza A36 is simply incredible, and their Piper Archer was my first Payware purchase.The key is to only buy from companies that have a good reputation, good customer support, and stand by their product. I usually will browse through a support forum before even buying the product just to gauge how much a developer cares about their product, and Dreamfleet is certainly one of the best for support, along with Flight1, Aerosoft, PMDG, and others.

For a really good experience in GA, download Bill Lyon's WACO!Originally payware $12 to download, it is now freeware...It comes both with wheels and floats.Its one which you can actually fly in reality, one place is in Sedona AZ, and one of the highlights of my life. If you pay the price, you can fly it yourself from the front cocpit... Flying around "Red Rock Country" You also get spectacular scenery while you fly. I love Bill's WACO, because we can relive the flights made in Sedona, using http://fsgenesis.com Justin's Mesh and Landclass to make it as "real as it gets." His mesh for the Grand Canyon, includes Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona area...

I buy payware add-ons because flight simming is a hobby. Yes there are some fantastic freeware aircraft out there I do agree, but I also enjoy some wonderful payware. I have spent probably close to $3000 on payware aircraft, utilities, and sceneries in the past two and a half years. Why? because its a hobby I enjoy and being an artist, its relatively inexpensive.I can also never be a real time pilot due to a childhood injury even though it was and still is something I dream about being, but for my safety and the safety of others, something I will never pursue. Sure there are some payware I have purchased that leave something to be desired (Wilco's A380 for one), but I never regret any purchase I have made. For one thing Wilco can create a better A380 than I can ;)And there are some aircraft that I want that are not available or were not available as freeware when I purchased them. And even then, sometimes if there were freeware of the same aircraft model available, the were lacking the detail that more often than not, comes with what one can purchase.Some like PMDG or Ariane's 737NG come with exquisite details, and by the book flight systems. Some are beautifully done like Eaglesoft's Citation X deluxe version, Dreamfleet's Beech A36, or RealAir's Spitfire with plenty of eye candy - something I like. Others are inexpensive enough that the cost makes it worth it enough like some of AlphaSims recent models. Though lacking in VC functionality and maybe some detail, still $15 to $25 is worth it to me. Some utilities make flight simming a much more worthwhile experience like Dowson's FSUIPC, Reality XP, ActiveSky (this I dont currently have as Im waiting for version 5 to be released). Even Lago's FSE now that one can use other's creations, can make a plain landing strip into a very detailed home for an aircraft.And some sceneries are just gorgeous, such as Georender, Fly Tampa, or FlightScenery's Rhode Island, or Sandmann's Misty Fjords for the bush pilot, while others are fun - Emma Field with its music on Friday night, the barbecues, the gliders, etc.I buy payware because I like to, and think again more often than not, its worth the expense to give back monitarily to those that create and develope for us some amazing products.

"I have spent probably close to $3000 on payware aircraft, utilities, and sceneries in the past two and a half years."LOL and people called me crazy when I bought the

Try $3500 in the past year :-xxrotflmao Ya - I have spending problems :(

Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!I'm curious about addons for MSFS. My primary sim is in my signature. My only experience with an addon for MSFS was Maria Noriega's Avanti. I enjoyed the fact that the avionics panel was not a popup window, the GPS window always apeared in a logical spot without having to be repositioned and the fuel panel also came up in a place where it seemed to belong. There seem to be limitations in the way MSFS presents panels. How do developers deal with them? For instance, the environmental controls for the King Air are on the copilot'sg side. The default MSFS reshuffles cockpit elements with wild abandon. Just how many popup windows do complex MSFS aircraft have? How much interest is there in scrollable/pannable 2D cockpits? That way the entire cockpit layout could be presented sharply and clearly with everything where it is in the actual aircraft. How do the developers deal with this? I see what PMDG did with the 777 for FLY 2, how do they present complex cockpits for MSFS without endless popups or forcing VC use?Best Regards, Donny:-wave

Easily. Just about all freeware has crapulah VC cockpits and just about never better VC than default FS 2004 :). That is the one big reason why there is few freeware aircrafts that pleases me. I want to fly VC solely because it

>However that said I buy to much add ons. More then I have time>to use. It gets kind of a drug I guess.Hey - this thread has finally gotten to the meat!! :) I never intended this thread to become some kind of comparison between freeware and payware -- but more a matter of WHY do people buy so many payware a/c . Barry

You get what you pay for. Quality freeware with complete systems and a VC? I haven't found one yet. Those 2 things keep me coming back to great freeware aircraft. The bar keeps getting raised though, and that's why I keep spending money! Although I still go back to the released a while ago Ready for Pushback V2 742, probably the best payware out there.

Different developers use different techniques... clickable areas close to the edge, that shift the 2d cockpit is one example... clickable icons that overlay part of the panel with a different set of gauges is another.The Flight1 Meridian has an option to enable "autoscroll" so that the cockpit shifts when the mouse gets close to the edge of the viewable area, without clicking.

>Donny AKA Shalomar>Fly 2 ROCKS!!!>>I'm curious about addons for MSFS. My primary sim is in my>signature. My only experience with an addon for MSFS was Maria>Noriega's Avanti. I enjoyed the fact that the avionics panel>was not a popup window, the GPS window always apeared in a>logical spot without having to be repositioned and the fuel>panel also came up in a place where it seemed to belong. There>seem to be limitations in the way MSFS presents panels. How do>developers deal with them? For instance, the environmental>controls for the King Air are on the copilot'sg side. The>default MSFS reshuffles cockpit elements with wild abandon.>Just how many popup windows do complex MSFS aircraft have? How>much interest is there in scrollable/pannable 2D cockpits?>That way the entire cockpit layout could be presented sharply>and clearly with everything where it is in the actual>aircraft. How do the developers deal with this? I see what>PMDG did with the 777 for FLY 2, how do they present complex>cockpits for MSFS without endless popups or forcing VC use?>Everybody has their way of doing things, but as to FLYII and complex panels, some of the instruments were very hard to read, even on my 21" monitor. Scrolling across a 2D panel won't always get you vital information in real time either. Unless you're flying total IFR, the panel is actually out of focus much of the time. That's why I use shift Z for a few important digital readings such as airspeed and altitude.L.Adamson

Yes, still thinking of you here Lou. Be cool if we could meet up again.Good luck.Peter