fsx-se Suitable A2A Aircraft

[marcus300zx 0]

Hi All,

 

I have recently moved from flying jets to props and have spent a month or so flying the real air legacy.  its a great plane but I am looking at something with 4 seats.

 

I have some nice planes im my hangar and they all have their plus points, but they all have the same negative and that my pilot skills.  I can take off fine and I can fly to my destination, but its the end game where I fall short.  I don't know if its how I have my flight yoke set up but my final approach looks like 2 people are playing see-saw on the wings.  if I try to correct to the left or right I seem to always overdo it.  ILS has been my godsend, but when ATC give me a visual approach it generally goes a bit wobbly, which is why I stepped down from my jets (airbus, phenom & avro) to prop.

 

I want to stay with a single prop plane and love the fact that the A2a stuff has to be maintained as well as flown (I'm a mechanic in my spare time so love this aspect)

 

I like to fly from point A to point B with a flight time around 2hrs.  I like all of the a2a stuff but due to my current low level skills I need something easy to fly and something that I can ILS land if weather turns foggy.  ideally I would like something that has an autopilot that can follow gps or heading and you can if required set an altitude and the plane will ascend or decent to that and hold it.

 

I think only the Cessana 172 & 182 do this?

 

Also, and tips on how to set the sensitivity, dead zones on my Saitek pro yoke would be great

 

Marcus

[Jimmy RFR 406]

Not really going to offer a comment regarding the suitability of any A2A products.  They are all superb, and as you noted, the AP in the 172 or 182 will do what you want.  (I like the 182 better than the 172, just a bit more polished, imo).

 

However, regarding yokes (and sticks) in FSX, I found that the key thing that helped me out was setting my yoke up through FSUIPC.  With that, you can adjust the response curve to your liking.

 

The Saitek yoke doesn't turn as much as the real thing; therefore a small 5 degree input on the yoke will result in a much larger input in the sim.  So the idea behind a response curve is to slow down the small movements at the expense of the large movements.  After all, you spend most of your time making small adjustments, not applying full ailreon.

[Jimm 437]

I can't say enough about A2A's C182.  I bought it over a week ago and this is my go to aircraft.  She handles and functions so well and there is so much to keep any eye on, since it "ages" even when you aren't flying it.  It's like taking care of a real aircraft.

 

-Jim

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

Also look at the a2a Comanche.

 

Most important for me was to reset the FSX Controls sensitivities.

 

Nullzone=0

 

Sensitivities=max

 

was what made the a2a planes behave for me.

 

Big difference!  :smile:

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

Personally, I don't like the flair on the A2A 182.  If you're having a tough time landing, it may give you fits.  The Cherokee might be better but I can't verify since I don't have it.  The Baytower RV7 is probably less of a handful than the Legacy (I don't have it but people always talk about how great it is).  If you want something more common, the Carenado A36 flies well...also the C206 (Bernt Stolle's flight dynamics are excellent.)

[Flyfox 114]

If you prefer a low-wing airplane, you can't go wrong with either the Cherokee or the Comanche. Both have great character and are perfectly done by A2A. If you rather like to fly high-wing planes, you have the choice between the 172 and the 182. Both are incredibly realistic representations of the real Cessnas. Read through A2A's forums; they give you a wealth of information about each of these birds.

[ryanbatc 12,851]

I'd second Gregg's suggestion for the Baytower RV7 (comes with tail stagger and tricycle gear)

 

If your heart is set on 4 seats id go A2A Cherokee - the AP isn't as great as the Skylane though

[neucoas 82]

I'd pick up the C182 or the Comanche. 

[pilottj 198]

The Cherokee is excellent for a first timer, yes, the AP is simple, basically just good for giving your arm a break during cruise.  Simple AP  is a great thing, you have to actually fly the plane.  

 

The Cherokee is very easy to fly by hand, I can fly approaches by hand down to minimums all day in it.  You aren't going to learn as much if the AP does all the work for you.  The Comanche has the same AP as the Cherokee, and it too is quite easy to fly by hand, tho it requires more planning ahead because it is faster.  

 

All the A2A planes are great tho, I would recommend any and all of them.

 

Cheers

TJ

[alf_uk 0]

Hi, I am  still a beginner in fsx and can only write from my experience. I have the cherokee and like it very much but the "autopilot" is not really auto but more a little assistant after you fly trimmed etc. I never got used to it even I read a couple of hours.

Today I bought the A2A182 , and had problems with the use of the autopilot too. After reading some forums it seems I am not the only one. 

The most help I found here:

http://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=121&t=46130&hilit=autopilot+182

 

"- Once nicely trimmed on climb out, just press 'AP' to engage and it'll keep you climbing out at the same rate. (it's actually a 0.25 second press that's needed to activate it, not 2 seconds, so just a slightly prolonged mouse click is sufficient.)
- Turn the rotary knob(s) to select your target altitude and the autopilot will automatically arm for capture.
- Press 'UP' or 'DN' to adjust vertical speed if desired.
- Just be aware that if you preselect your target altitude (when on the ground for example), you'll need to press the 'ARM' button on the autopilot after engaging it."

 

with those tips it seems even I manage to work the autopilot alt .

 

 

(there are some topics on the A2A forum about recent problems with the C182 and autopilot, and a new fix is in work according to this threat: 

http://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=121&t=48863&hilit=autopilot+182

 

I was aware of those comments and still bought it today

cheers

alf

[marcus300zx 0]

Thanks for the replies. Firstly I went for the full version of fsuipc as suggested and having then changed the arc on the yoke controls made a massive change to how I was able to fly the aircraft I had.

 

I bought my a2a aircraft and in the first instance I decided on the c172 trainer. Once I worked out the autopilot from their forum and changed the trim response as per a video by froogle, I am now having lots of fun flying.

 

Just done my 3rd landing in the plane a visual one and it's the best landing I have done, so very happy.

 

It's great fun and really good plane to learn from, even starting the thing had me confused for a while. Like the view you get out the windows of the scenery from the high winged plane and due to it being slow I have plenty of time to get my approach lined up.

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

 

 

Personally, I don't like the flair on the A2A 182.

 

I wanted to quote myself and correct something.  I found that my CH Yoke on my rig had gotten out of wack inside the CH Control Manager.  After I corrected it, my flare in the C182 improved significantly.  Adding a passenger or two to the back seat made it feel more correct.  So, I'm a very happy camper with this airplane.  My realism meter is quite nearly pegged.