Ideas / Opinions

[crippy1 1]

Hey all! I'm curious to pick the vast knowledge here on Avsim.

Mostly I fly G.A. generally A2A airplanes, as they are extremely realistic which I love.

Lately I have been getting the itch to fly quicker on vatsim, and higher faster etc.

I currently have the A2A connie, This is a perfect airplane (I am an old school steam gauge person) but it isn't that well suited for short hops...Or is it?

I purchased recently the extreme prototypes Learjet 25. It is a great plane, but the VC night lighting only has 1 setting, and it is almost too powerful for me at a standard 3-4K FPM climb rates, and almost an instant 300KTS after takeoff 

I am looking to play around going from KMEM - KDFW or hops as such. (Even KXNA/KLIT to KDFW / KMEM etc)

I have been looking at the Aerosoft CRJ7 I have been reading on the forums about it alot. I have seen both sides of the argument, it looks okay but there may be still some bugs here or there. Also it is fully glass and I am not that comfortable flying RNAV / SIDS / Arrival procedures.

I looked at the new MD-82 It is more analog but still relies on RNAV to some extent. It also looks like quite an undertaking to learn.

Similar story with the Dash - 8 More of a glass cockpit, and larger airplane too.

I've looked at king-airs, but it looks like the main "best" one is still being converted to P3Dv4 and that was also equipped with the glass cockpit.

I've read that very sadly the Real Air turbine duke is no longer available too.

Should I just continue to fly the Conni and my current G.A. fleet around? Or is there another alternative aircraft I haven't heard of? (Keep in mind I would like study level or the closest to it)

 

Thank you much, looking forward to reading what thoughts everyone has!

[scianoir 610]

The A2A Connie is one of the great steam gauge piston airliners but another excellent one (and unbelievably freeware considering the amazing quality) is Manfred Jahn's C-47/DC-3. There are a large amount of addon aircraft out there with steam gauges but few if any will reach the level of quality of A2A addons if you have become accustomed to that standard. You are correct in that Real Air was one of the few other developers who achieved a similar standard with their Turbine Duke but sadly their products are no longer available. Another very good addon with plenty of steam gauges is the Captain Sim C-130 Hercules but if you want something faster their 737-200 (or that of MilViz) could also be worth considering. 

The bottom line however is that there is a lot available and, if you are keen on a particular addon, it's always worth researching the reviews here on Avsim and elsewhere and asking for further specific advice if necessary.

Bill

[Mike777 163]

2 hours ago, crippy1 said:

Hey all! I'm curious to pick the vast knowledge here on Avsim.

Mostly I fly G.A. generally A2A airplanes, as they are extremely realistic which I love.

Lately I have been getting the itch to fly quicker on vatsim, and higher faster etc.

I currently have the A2A connie, This is a perfect airplane (I am an old school steam gauge person) but it isn't that well suited for short hops...Or is it?

I purchased recently the extreme prototypes Learjet 25. It is a great plane, but the VC night lighting only has 1 setting, and it is almost too powerful for me at a standard 3-4K FPM climb rates, and almost an instant 300KTS after takeoff 

I am looking to play around going from KMEM - KDFW or hops as such. (Even KXNA/KLIT to KDFW / KMEM etc)

I have been looking at the Aerosoft CRJ7 I have been reading on the forums about it alot. I have seen both sides of the argument, it looks okay but there may be still some bugs here or there. Also it is fully glass and I am not that comfortable flying RNAV / SIDS / Arrival procedures.

I looked at the new MD-82 It is more analog but still relies on RNAV to some extent. It also looks like quite an undertaking to learn.

Similar story with the Dash - 8 More of a glass cockpit, and larger airplane too.

I've looked at king-airs, but it looks like the main "best" one is still being converted to P3Dv4 and that was also equipped with the glass cockpit.

I've read that very sadly the Real Air turbine duke is no longer available too.

Should I just continue to fly the Conni and my current G.A. fleet around? Or is there another alternative aircraft I haven't heard of? (Keep in mind I would like study level or the closest to it)

Hi Crippy1,

You might consider the Coolsky DC-9 (not to be confused with their MD-80 series aircraft).  It flies higher and faster than a Connie but it is pure steam gauge -- VOR/ADF navigation, no FMC, no glass gauges, no RNAV capability.

Within the last six or seven years Delta was still flying DC-9s, and I flew on one from Atlanta to Mobile, Alabama.  I looked in the cockpit and was surprised to see no FMC and only steam gauges.  I looked up the flight plan and sure enough they used a non-RNAV departure requiring continual tuning to obtain intersecting VOR radials.  (No STARs at Mobile -- it's just not that busy.) 

I have only begun to get into the Coolsky, but I doubt it is any harder to fly than a serious Connie. The engines take some effort to learn, but surely they are easier than those of a Connie! It comes with what looks like an excellent tutorial (yellow arrows point to each gauge as it is discussed, although they point to the 2D panel segments, so it takes awhile to figure out where they are in the VC).   It also has a navigation map display to show you how to navigate with VORs and ADFs (although you may not need that if you are comfortable with the Connie).  It is certainly fairly close to "study level."  It has many failure options that I have yet to explore.  It works with FSX Steam, but I don't know about P3D.

Mike

 

[birdguy 3,943]

If you Connie lovers have three quarters of an hour to spare fly with Arthur Godfrey (remember him?) from New York to Miami in an Eastern Airlines Super Connie way back in 1953.

 

I've enjoyed tis video about a dozen times.  I still think the Connie was the most beautiful airliner ever designed.  On my last trip from Japan when I was in the Air Force I flew from Tachikawa AFB to Travis AFB with stops at Wake Island and Honolulu.  It was an Air Force contract flight.

Noel

Edited March 1, 2018 by birdguy

[Mike777 163]

1 hour ago, birdguy said:

I've enjoyed tis video about a dozen times.  I still think the Connie was the most beautiful airliner ever designed.  On my last trip from Japan when I was in the Air Force I flew from Tachikawa AFB to Travis AFB with stops at Wake Island and Honolulu.  It was an Air Force contract flight.

Is this the one where Arthur Godfrey is shown flying the Connie himself, all the while smoking a cigarette?  I think I used to have a video tape of it.

Mike

[birdguy 3,943]

Yep, that's it.  Also his ride in an F-94C and a clip of him in his Navion and DC-3.

Noel