I'm sure theres lots of post on this one. Going to buy my flying buddy a Cessna for XMas. He's taking flight lessons now and I think there using a Cessna 180. What do ya think, give me a few ideas. Thanks a bunch, Bob McDuffP.S I have to buy it tonight

I'd do with either the Cessna 182RG from Carenado ( http://www.carenado.com/ecommerce/buscador...?id_producto=38 ) if you want a retractable gear or the Cessna 172R from Flight1 ( http://www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=esd172 ) for a fixed gear. Both are excellent.Doug

There are three I would check out:1) Carenado 182 Skyline2) Carenado 206 StationairBoth great buy's but with a bit older (origional) avionics...which may actually be good for someone who will be learning various procedures. Both need a little tweaking in the aircraft.cfg though to help with trimming out and staying level (most these single engine aircraft do to perform closer to reality in those departments). Realism is second to none in terms of graphics, and frame rates are fantastic.and finally...3) Flight 1 172RA great model right out of the box, and has modern avionics installed.Not as 'purty' as the Carendao's, but a very very solid aircraft all around. Also costs a bit more.Have fun shopping ;)

What kind of VC lighting does the Flight1 172 have? backlighting at night? Also an option for a dome light?The carenados are great with that, I'm waiting for the cargo 206 to buy but enjoy the 182

I'm all about the F1 172. I don't think the Carenado 182 flies particularly realistically (for a sim). It's not bad, but the 172 is IMHO more accurate. It's better looking though.The gauges in the 172 all have individual backlighting in the vc, but it's tied to the nav lights. A factor to consider is how easy it is to add 3rd party gauges, e.g. RXP GNS430/530, Flightline T, Sandel 3308. The 172 is about the easiest plane to edit there is.

>I'm all about the F1 172. I don't think the Carenado 182>flies particularly realistically (for a sim). It's not bad,>but the 172 is IMHO more accurate. It's better looking>though.>I'd have to go back through both models for individual flight characteristics, but it seems that both seem to fly like a Cessna. Overall, I've been fine with Carenado's flight models.L.Adamson

>What kind of VC lighting does the Flight1 172 have?>backlighting at night? Also an option for a dome light?>>The carenados are great with that, I'm waiting for the cargo>206 to buy but enjoy the 182Unfortunatly the F1's VC lighting is very poor. You are practically forced to fly in in 2D mode at night. I'm sure that could be fixed by someone in the know.The 206 is a great plane. I just outfitted mine this afterneeon with full Reality FLT gauges and twin 430GPS/transponder/radio panel, and yes, even full autopilot! ;) I have also edited the lighting in the 206 to provide the redish glow 'post' lighting all the time...the default plane only had that lighting effect during landing.Well, I should say I outfitted a couple of them. I've still leaving some 'stock'. And as said above, yep, the F1 can accept the Reality gauges as well. And I have outfitted one of mine with a full package as well (2x430'S/FLT/transponder/yadda yadda).As far as flight dynamics, I think I have found the solution to the Carenado's 'issues', and have every one of mine 'tweaked'albeit very slightly...even the Piper 180 flys very very smooth...and that thing was a bit of a pain to keep level 'out of the box'. Now I can take it up and actaully enjoy flying it, as it will now stay 'in trim'...and a bit less of a handfull during landings also....still tougher than a Cessna...as it probably should be.

Would you mind sharing your tweaks, especially for the 180? It is annoying sometimes when it won't fly level. Not at all like the rw plane.Thanks,MarvOh, BTW, I agree with the offerings from Carenado. The 206 and the 182 are both fine flyers.

>>Unfortunatly the F1's VC lighting is very poor. You are>practically forced to fly in in 2D mode at night. You think? I fly it day and night exclusively in the VC. What I particularly like is that having only the gauge lighting on results in no light pollution - enabling me to see outside better on approach/landing.

I had a chance to fly a Real C-182 the same day I flew the Carenado C-182 RG. Pretty darn close, is all I can say. :)

Here are my entries for the 206, I have similar for other aircraft...some don't need touched at all...From the aircraft.cfg: (notice I always keep the default settings, just turn them 'off' with /// )...UNDER : 'flight_tuning'cruise_lift_scalar=1.0 parasite_drag_scalar=1.0 induced_drag_scalar=1.0 elevator_effectiveness=1.3 aileron_effectiveness=1.0 rudder_effectiveness=1.8 ///pitch_stability=1.0 pitch_stability=1.5 <---MY CHANGE; Have also played with it at 1.3 which is alo pretty good...1.5 might be a little 'heavy handed'roll_stability=1.0 yaw_stability=1.0 ///elevator_trim_effectiveness=1.5 elevator_trim_effectiveness=1.0 <--- MY CHANGE aileron_trim_effectiveness=1.0 rudder_trim_effectiveness=1.0 hi_alpha_on_roll=-0.32hi_alpha_on_yaw=0.1615p_factor_on_yaw= 1.0torque_on_roll=1.5gyro_precession_on_yaw=1.0gyro_precession_on_pitch=1.0All I am trying to do is give the aircraft better 'trim' stability. I have heard some pilots say that most FS aircraft do not trim-out as a real plane would. I've had my share of flying in real aircraft (albeit limited) in 'both seats' and I tend to agree. Some guy's get this balance pretty good, and some aircraft are just 'picky' in real life to in this regards. I flew in a jump seat of a DC-3 once and the pilot was fairly constantly adjusting that big trim wheel to his right.That said, if engine settings are correct(and weather is not a factor) trimmig most aircraft in real life is simply not as tough as some of these aircraft make it seem.'pitch stability' just calms the 'tipping' point between trim, power, and speed...By adjusting 'elevator trim effectiveness' down means that every time you 'click' the trim up or down, it does so in a smaller 'chunk'. Thus being able to find that 'sweet spot' easier. I really find most defaults annoying that you click once up or down on the trim (when close to final trim) and the aircraft either goes too far 'nose up', or 'nose down'. This simply makes the trim movement 'smaller'. As most aircraft have a trim wheel, small adjustements are easier because it is more 'fluid' and not 'chunky' as in FS. As in the DC-3 example above..you may still have to trim often but the adjustments can be made in 'smaller chunks'.I find it amazing how much effect these two settings have on these aircraft. I would suggest not changing pitch stability 'too much' or you will get unrealistic results in the 'opposite' direction (i.e. Too Easy to fly).That is it really...try this and you might be amazed how much easier things are to stay level during cruise, and climb and descending is also easier to control.

cool, thanks for the tip!I am now trying to add an alpha channel to the 2 lightmap files so the red glow appears without the landing lights.When I add alpha to Cessna206_2_L.bmp, for example, and apply it then save it with dxt1 bipmap editor, and open up the file again, the alpha is gone??

Alex, make sure you 'update' the file in the DXTBMP editor prior to saving the file.There is an exact 'saving sequance' you must follow, and it took me a couple of tries to get it righ too.I would open the .bmp file in DXTBMP, open the the alpha channel 'image' to my editor (Photoshop), make my change in the 'editor' (Photoshop), go back to DXTBMP and 'update' the file at the alpha channel window to the right, and then save the complete file IN DXTBMP back to my texture folder, overwriting the existing.IMPORTANT: Please back everything up. But as you do this in a texture folder, it is possible to create a new texture folder and 'link' it to one of your models in the aircraft.cfg. That way your origional texture folders remain unchanged.After you get everything to work, you can simply copy/paste the new files into your other texture folders.Hope that expalins a bit better.Just keep playing with it...it becomes easier once you do it....kinda like me changing many of my aircraft gauges with Reality gauges...boy oh boy, it seems so confusing at first, but it is getting easier with each one ;) I now have a Carenado 180 Piper with full avionics including two built-in 430 GPS, and updated gauges. But I'll always keep a couple 180's stock to go back to 'old school' flying...

I guess I'm in the twilight zone.... I do that exact thing, import the black texture back to the program, it shows up in the alpha window, go down to save it as DXT3, or even 32bit, it saves. I close the program and open up the texture again... and the alpha is gone! the window is now white again!!???

I think ebay has used Cessnas, but also www.aso.com has aircraft listings, I've never bought an airplane so I'm not sure where the best place to go would be.Jeff