Favourite aircraft for VFR

[RoboRay 126]

It was the VL-3 all the way through Alpha, but the Virus has replaced it for now.  I'll probably go back to the VL-3 at some point because the G3x touchscreens are easier to operate with a mouse (clicky keyboards instead of turning knobs).

[mtr75 653]

10 hours ago, dobee51 said:

The Cessna 152 is the plane I'd have in my barn, if I had a barn.

I have a barn and a, well, a 150. Yes, in real life. 

[Ed_S_Pilot 227]

C-172 steam gauges because thats what i feel RW. Wish it had G5's and a complete working 530. Waiting patiently for a Piper Cherokee 180.....

[JustanotherPilot 238]

C172 with steam gauges, for me,brings back memories of decades past.

[flyinion 280]

The DA40NG for me so far. Reminds me a lot of the Lancair Legacy I had for FSX as far as the cockpit feel and ease of flying. I want to get familiar more with the twin version as the Beech B58 was my favorite stock aircraft in FSX. Yes I have the G58 in this one but I guess it has some bugs right now like no ALT knob for the autopilot and not having to remember how to do the prop control for a bit makes things simpler. Just wish the diamond twin had more visibility out the front. The Beech isn’t much better just puts the pillar more to the edge. 

[GCBraun 2,392]

Love the smaller diamonds and the Cessnas. Steam gauges, of course. 😀

[ivng 57]

Couple of people already mentioned DA40 TDI.  Currently this is my favourite aircraft to fly.

It was the first plane in which I had that 'wow this really feels like flying' moment.  This is the only plane where I don't feel the urge to switch to outside view occasionally.

Biggest plus for me are visibility from cockpit and steam gauges. 

Key for immersion were a few settings I didn't pay much attention to before.  Set the default view to fully up and fully zoomed back.  Set up the hat switch for smooth looking around and a button to re-set the view.  Used headphones and changed sound to simulate in-cockpit headphone use.  Finally I flew around Toronto, area I know well, and turned off all city, airport, poi, etc markers.  Wow, felt real - just an amazing feeling.  Convinced me to invest in TrackIR.  Can't wait to get my hands on it.

 

Curious as to what others think about this plane?  It is said that C152 is done best, closest to realistic.  How does in-sim DA40 TDI stack up with respect to realism? 

[Cognita 1,081]

I have been flying the 172 and the 182 almost exclusively and really enjoying them. But in the past few days I have been poking around the DA40 and really like the plane. I would also appreciate any thoughts on how well it is simulated.

[Todd2 2,097]

Mooney Ovation.  I'm just so used to it.

[Steve Dra 7,588]

On 9/5/2020 at 8:02 PM, Stoopy said:

I've been slowly making my way VFR across the USA from the East coast to West and only allowing myself to fly one new plane per day out of the 30 aircraft in the Deluxe Preemie Cheeseburger package, starting from the slowest/smaller ones and going up, with several 100-150nM legs flown each day with touch-n-goes along the way in each aircraft to really get to know them.  As of today I have flown 16 of the 30 aircraft and although this means I have had to spend a day with a plane or two that I wasn't terribly excited about, I'm really happy I'm doing it this way since it's going to be a little while until we see native aircraft released for this sim and I want to avoid filling the hangar too early with half-baked converted aircraft from FSX.  

And out of the 16 planes so far, some have been surprisingly enjoyable - the DA40 for instance, particularly the TDI version since it has steam gauges, it would be a nice full tourer if it had an AP and if the fuel transfer function actually worked.  On the downside, the Robin 400 and CAP10 were less than expected and in particular I couldn't get out of the DR400 fast enough. For a trainer, I'll take a 152 any day.  It behaves like it actually wants to climb and fly. 🙂

However the biggest surprise was what a great VFR day-tripper the Pitts S2 is.  The Extra 300LT bills itself as a tourer but with no autopilot and twitchy handling I said goodbye to it after staying on top of flying it through most of Wyoming and Colorado.  The Pitts has even less amenities but can hold a steady heading for much longer, zips right along and if you want better forward visibility just flip it over on its back,  which is great fun and easy with that really smooth roll rate it has.  It's a bit of a short-coupled, blind sumb*tch on short final, but rewards the pilot who keeps a smooth hand until touchdown.  Just a good stick-and-rudder aeroplane. 

Tomorrow I'll take off on a morning flight from Big Bear Lake and park her at KREI in So Cal,  where I'll take delivery of a shiny new SR22 to try out, and finish my westward trek with a flight to Catalina Island.  Can't wait!

 

Ohhhhhhhhh......I just thought of the craziest mod after seeing your pic above.

You all may have heard that these solar towers are famous (or is it infamous?) for turning unsuspecting birds into avion' suffle' as they unwittingly fly through the super-intense sun beam it creates.

I think it would be awesome to model the sim so if you flew a fabric aircraft through the beam....it would burst into flames! 🤣  I say this jokingly of course as I would wish no real harm to simmers or poor birds, but it would be quite the gotcha' if Asobo modeled it...didn't tell anyone, then someone would be flying around the tower, get in the beam's path, and poof!

Tell me nobody else was thinking the same thing when they saw this pic? (yeah probably just me and my insanity) 🙄

 

Love your journey though @Stoopy....sounds like great fun

[Fielder 3,673]

The yellow Cub because I'm mostly doing bush plane packages (add-ons) The Idaho central bush tour has some scary strips but the little Cub never fails.

In FSX it was always the Japanese Zero. Very very fast and very gentle, simple to make it do just about anything. Like in real life.

I waiting for some warbirds!

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

On 9/6/2020 at 9:59 AM, Nate1 said:

 I realise that the savage cub can potentially be landed on helipads. There's one about 1500 feet up on the clock tower at Mecca which I have my eye on. Obviously this is just a break from hard IFR activities, engaged upon with an absolute seriousness 🙂

 

The Savage Carbon mod is insane for stuff like that. It also does a very respectable job of Immelmann's, loops, split S and barrel rolls as a bonus. It is not however based on a real aircraft.

My choice of totally default aircraft would be the Caravan.

If freeware mods are allowed it is a toss up between Rob Young's Turbo Bonanza and the C152x realism mod.

Edited November 30, 2020 by Glenn Fitzpatrick

[Los 416]

I’m surprised no one has mentioned it: G36 both with the improvements mod and Robert Young’s turbonormalized mod.

I know they’re mostly longer leg tourers but a quick VFR flight between nearby cities in Florida is fun! Tampa to Orlando following I-4 for instance.

I also use it default changing the power scalar in the engines configuration file to 1.52 and get 176 KTAS at 6,000 ft. ISA at 2500 RPM and mixture at 17 GPH at 3400 lbs. all up weight just as per book!

Edited November 30, 2020 by Cmcollazo71

[eslader 1,783]

Depends what I'm doing. I like the Savage Cub for off-field stuff like landing in mountain meadows. I like the Caravan for "light" bush flying - i.e., landing on actual runways even if they're just grass or gravel strips. And I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but I've had a lot of fun in the Icon if I'm flying anywhere near water, though I'm sure that'll change once other float/amphibs become available.

 

 

[ckyliu 1,749]

 

1 hour ago, Cmcollazo71 said:

I’m surprised no one has mentioned it: G36 both with the improvements mod and Robert Young’s turbonormalized mod. I know they’re mostly longer leg tourers but a quick VFR flight between nearby cities in Florida is fun!

Really surprised no one had mentioned Bonanza G36 before you! I use the mod from https://github.com/TheFrett/msfs_g36_project and find the G36 a great all round GA VFR bird with good visibility and strong performance. I do the bulk of my MFS flying in it.

My second choice would be the Flight Design CTLS, if it had a better avionics fitout in sim I'd probably use it more. Visibility is effectively unbeatable, cruise is very fast for only 80 hp and as they comply with LSA requirements you can land and takeoff on very short strips without resorting to tail dragger bush planes. I suppose the SW121 Virus would fit the brief of having better avionics, but I wasn't going to pay extra for top spec version for one aircraft I'd actually use.

I really wanted to like the Robin DR400 but Asobo inexplicably saddled us with the lowest 100 hp Cadet version and no GNS/GTN, if they'd done a later 180 hp Regent I'd probably be in that all the time because they handle wonderfully, quiet, excellent visibility and achingly beautiful. But as they didn't, I've barely touched it.

Edited November 30, 2020 by ckyliu