Best Aircraft for sight-seeing?

[joec63 253]

1 minute ago, AirWayMan said:

unfortunately that may not be as easy as it sounds, from working in fsx i know the 3d interior must be changed to get the 'dashboard' to match the gauges and thats not 'interchangable' on the fly afaik as its basically a new model, im assuming its still the same from the way they have the 172 as 2 separate aircraft because it requires separate 3d models and textures

ahhh , did not know that. Makes sense

[Chock 17,769]

7 hours ago, Beardyman said:

No better plane for cross country flight than A2A civilian Mustang.

U can fly low and slow or high and relatively fast.

Beautiful plane, top class simulation.

Quite apart from the fact that the thing isn't available for the new sim, the P51, or really any WW2 monoplane fighter, would be a terrible choice for sightseeing, you've got a big long nose in front of you and the low wing obscures a huge amount of terrain below you. High speed cross country yup, but not sightseeing. As far as going low and slow is concerned, that's definitely not the P51's strong point either; its full flap stall speed is 95mph and at that speed you'd be nose high and unable to bank much to see past that big wing without chancing a spin.

If I wanted to dogfight a Focke-Wulf 190 though, I agree, it'd be an excellent choice, and A2A is the best aeroplane developer out there.

[LHookins 3,103]

8 hours ago, Beardyman said:

No better plane for cross country flight than A2A civilian Mustang.

Cross country flight, yes.  Sightseeing, no.

If I were to choose an A2A aircraft for just sightseeing, it would be the Piper J3 Cub.  I've flown it California to New Jersey and back.  That probably counts for "cross country". 😄 I'd love to do that flight in the A2A Cub in MSFS.

Unfortunately, we may not see many A2A aircraft in MSFS and it will definitely take a while for them to appear, and they'll be limited in number.  A2A can do two aircraft per year, and they'll likely be making some planes for P3D as well.

First will be the Aerostar, already in production.  I suspect the Comanche will be the second, assuming there is a second.  No idea where they'll go from there.  Maybe an all-new aircraft we've never seen before. (No, not a Lancaster or B-17, sorry.  Probably not a DC-3 either.)

Hook

Edited August 12, 2020 by LHookins

[James Callan 66]

I really enjoy the Just Flight Aeroplane Cessna 140 add-on for FSX/SE, especially since I used to own one.  Very faithful simulation of a great slow high-wing (fabric) taildragger that's great for sightseeing, even with the windows open!  Fabulous airplane.  Mine came out of the factory eleven months after Hiroshima.

Edited August 12, 2020 by James Callan

[DylanM 1,069]

Can't wait for the OV10 Bronco to make its way into the sim...fantastic visibility through the bubble canopy, and beautifully maneuverable for canyon carving or sightseeing.

[n4gix 4,947]

1 hour ago, AirWayMan said:

unfortunately that may not be as easy as it sounds, from working in fsx i know the 3d interior must be changed to get the 'dashboard' to match the gauges and thats not 'interchangable' on the fly afaik as its basically a new model, im assuming its still the same from the way they have the 172 as 2 separate aircraft because it requires separate 3d models and textures

Actually, it is entirely possible to have multiple panels and avionics/gauge arrangements in the same model. Several Milviz GA aircraft have as many as 12 different optional panels in a single interior model.

[James Callan 66]

Nobody's mentioned the Mudry [now Robin?] Cap 10 with its bubble canopy which is included in MSFS, although it is low wing.  However, you can get a pretty good look around flying inverted! I took a few hours of aerobatic instruction in a Cap 10 out of Dutchess County Airport in Pougkeepsie, NY, from two pilots who flew Cap 10's in airshows as "The French Connection."  Lovely people who unfortunately died subsequently doing what they loved to do...

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

38 minutes ago, James Callan said:

Nobody's mentioned the Mudry [now Robin?] Cap 10 with its bubble canopy which is included in MSFS, although it is low wing.  However, you can get a pretty good look around flying inverted! I took a few hours of aerobatic instruction in a Cap 10 out of Dutchess County Airport in Pougkeepsie, NY, from two pilots who flew Cap 10's in airshows as "The French Connection."  Lovely people who unfortunately died subsequently doing what they loved to do...

There are some great videos of the VL-3 for sightseeing flights..  Would be a good choice, also.

 

 

Edited August 12, 2020 by Bert Pieke

[ryanbatc 12,859]

13 minutes ago, Bert Pieke said:

There are some great videos of the VL-3 for sightseeing flights..  Would be a good choice, also.

 

 

The VL3 is great!

[dobee51 348]

Best for sight-seeing: The Drone Camera it seems...

[EzRyder 35]

1 hour ago, n4gix said:

Actually, it is entirely possible to have multiple panels and avionics/gauge arrangements in the same model. Several Milviz GA aircraft have as many as 12 different optional panels in a single interior model.

well to be more exact they have multiple models for each aircraft that allow changing or they are using multiple gauges of the exact same size and shape, i never said it was impossible what i said was it was not easy - its a lot of work, almost as much as another aircraft -  traditionally that was left for 3rd party devs not for default aircraft since (considering the extra work) its better for default to add another aircraft entirely money wise
also we are only going by fsx so we cant be sure it will work the same way, it could be easier or harder now we simply dont know
bottom line is they will add what they want/can for the money and we should not expect tons of 'extra' features just because its new or we 'want' them

sure i would love for them to do this but i dont want them to push the base sim to several hundreds of dollars to do 'everything' possible - let 3rd party do that

Edited August 12, 2020 by AirWayMan

[Mace 1,928]

9 hours ago, Volpo said:

If you have the premium deluxe version could you use the Zlin Ultra Shock for sight seeing, it has a very low stall speed(15.6 KN) and is thus able to fly very slowly in stable flight. It also doesn't need an airfield to land. 

I was just looking at the Shock Ultra -- the low speeds it can operate at are amazing, like ultralight class, except it's a cabin'ed three-axis airplane.   Zlin have lightened the aircraft to the point that it's at 290 kg empty, and a 600kg MTOW.  That's amazing.  That thing will be really fun to fly.

[n4gix 4,947]

2 hours ago, AirWayMan said:

well to be more exact they have multiple models for each aircraft that allow changing or they are using multiple gauges of the exact same size and shape, i never said it was impossible what i said was it was not easy - its a lot of work, almost as much as another aircraft

No, there is a single exterior.mdl and single interior.mdl. The interior model contains all of the mesh objects for all options, and a unique panel.cfg file for each of the various configurations, but all of which remain "hidden" unless made active based on the options selected before loading the aircraft.

However I do agree that this may or may not be possible in MSFS. Although I've had the current SDK for several months now I've simply not had the time to study it in detail.

[EzRyder 35]

"The interior model contains all of the mesh objects for all options"
"all of which remain "hidden" unless made active based on the options selected before loading the aircraft"

here is the key i think, you have to preselect which one so the game knows what files to load, im assuming that is done outside of the sim (with a 3rd party ingame option of some kind)?
tbh not sure how that would work i have never used any aircraft that had more than one set of textures for an mdl but i believe you when you say its possible and has been done already

im somewhat curious about it because i would love to add a second gauge set to the xcub

[Seven7 148]

I use the  Zlin Ultra Shock for that, it's just perfect.