I decided to try out the DA40 for the first time and chose a route from Telluride (TEX) to Aspen Pitkin County Airport (ASE). Well, soon after takeoff I realised the DA40 is not the best choice for the mountainous territory but soldiered on. Slowly I gained altitude so I could skim through the passes and enjoyed the very realistic turbulence along the way. I'm assuming the plane felt under powered because of the altitude. It looked like plain sailing for a while until I iced up having passed through some very light cloud (it is about 11,000 feet after all). Then I started to get low fuel warnings! Oh dear; can't see, I'm running out of fuel and I don't know how to drive the G1000. Thankfully I had airport notifications turned on so up popped Gunnison–Crested Butte Regional Airport (GUC). At first I was confused by the runway numbers because it has a small grass strip with no numbers pained.But I managed to get down and find a fuel pump (discovered how the refueling system works in game as well). The default airport looks really nice (highly recommend it for a nice airport plus the surrounding landscape) and I noticed the huge "W" painted on the nearby hillside which can be easily seen in satellite images (I wonder what the backstory to that is).

The one thing I'd like to see implemented is a way to scrape off the ice once you've landed. Without that, I had to continue with only about 25% visibility. Off I went and it was clear that the direct route would be too high so I detoured through some lower valleys. Really nice scenery again. I saw Buckhorn Ranch Airport-Crested Butte Airpark to my left but resisted landing their, choosing to keep climbing as it looked like a tough mountain ridge ahead to get over. I wasn't wrong! As I climbed I iced up even more (only about 10% visibility now) and the plane became harder and harder to handle (I'm assuming ice weight is modelled). In the end I foolishly committed myself to cresting the ridge with insufficient altitude or space to turn around and literally just clipped the ridgeline with my gear all the while listening to the stall enunciator screaming at me for my foolishness. But once over, what a ride down the valley it was! Following West Brush Creek past Teocalli Mountain then onto the aptly named Conundrum Creek and finally down to Aspen, all with only blurry visibility through the ice. But my troubles hadn't stopped there. Still heavily covered with ice and at altitude I fought stalling in my lazy plane as I tried to circle the airport and again literally clipped a pine tree in someone's backyard. Without being to see much I accidentally ended up once again in a river valley and flying in the wrong direction! What to do other than attempt a tight turn in an iced plane! This time I thought I was a goner but having skimmed the trees once again whilst fighting a stall (and probably scariung some fly fishermen below) I finally came in for a landing. What a relief. I followed the taxi assist arrows and curiously they led me down between two covered car parks (which is an actual taxiway at the airport). Ignominiously I crashed fatally simply as I negotiated the parking lot (I'm not sure if my wing hit something or a car drove into me).

All up it was one of the best most convincing flights I've ever had. I'll be back there to explore the landscape more (it's really quite breathtaking) but in a beefier plane.

 

Question for those familiar with the DA40. I had to fight excessive RPM warnings throughout and couldn't adjust with the keys I'd mapped, nore did there seem to be a control in the cockpit. I'm assuming the DA40 has an automatic RPM limiter and it can't be tinkered with. Is that correct? Probably not a problem under normal flying conditions but when at high density altitude conditions and iced up it causes some headaches.

 

i7 - 6700K (stock 4.0 GHz) - HT turned on

32 Gb 3200 RAM - XMP settings in BIOS

Gigabyte aero 1070 OC (8 Gb) GPU - 452.06 driver

M.2 SSD

1920 x 1080 144Hz G-sync

Ultra settings except a few turned down.

Averaging low 40 fps with occasional stutters down to 20 fps

 

 

I also see some weird markings here and there and considering its satellite data I wonder what its meaning could be.

Cruising South from Salt Lake City right now. Never been that side of the US in real life but the scenery is spectacular. I am a cowboy pilot as well so will fly until the fuel runs out and then see whats around!