Hi 

I wonder if anybody feels like sharing what their "go to plane is and why they choose that particular one. At the moment I am getting used to RealAir's incredible Turbine Duke so that is mine as I find it a pleasing challenge although I hope the real plane is a little more forgiving as RA's, no doubt accurately, tends to overstress the minute you neglect for an instant. I believe it is due to that fact that it is an unnatural entity since the Turbine is after market.

In the past, it was the Leonardo "MadDog" which is a wonderful plane .They had this selectable and brilliant teaching system whereby the start up procedure was indicated by a pointer which moved to the next part of the process. You could easily memorise it. I wonder if they have copyrighted it as it seems so obvious a thing for the others to follow yet I can't remember seeing one other aircraft that employed it. If not it should be standard.

In P3D, since unfortunately you can't yet get it for the 'other' sim, the go-to aeroplane for me is the Flysimware Cessna C441 Conquest II. There's a few reasons for that: It works with all versions of FSX and all versions of P3D which is cool, it has a very convincing simulation of the 441's systems, avionics and Honeywell 331 geared-drive engines. Like the real aeroplane, being fast, high-flying, pressurised and pretty long-ranged, it is a very versatile craft in the sim too, so you can use it for a ton of different flights in all kinds of weather. It might not have the fanciest PBR textures of some flight sim efforts, but it's so good in every other respect that you end up not caring about that and just loving the thing anyway. I'd recommend it to anyone, it's absolutely fab; one of the best simulations of a big GA/light commercial twin there is. If it ever makes it into the new MSFS sim, I'll be a very happy camper, but for now it is the go-to GA twin in P3D as far as I'm concerned.

Edited July 25, 20214 yr by Chock

A2A B-17.  Love those wonderful Andrews sisters!

In the FSX/P3D world (according to my log book), the most flown aircraft was the VRSimulations Superhornet at a bit south of 400 hrs. 2rd was Dino's T-45C Goshawk at a little over 250 hrs. 3rd place was the Iris T-6A at 200 hrs. Might be evident that a lot of flying was done in virtual US Navy squadrons. 

The Superhornet is actually a  relatively easy aircraft to aviate, both in the sim and in real life. All of it's complexity is in the weapons systems. 

I try NOT always fly same aircraft, I can fly all the week everyday with different manufacturer per-day, let along type.

But, if it's a new and challenging approach like RNP, NDB or some weird visual one, I tent to use 737 or A320 as those are mostly familiar type for me on those procedure, also most well simulated so it could handle as the real SOP. (For eg. Feelthere Ejet and QW787 are not great on handle even VOR approach with realistic procedure.)

I always enjoy these type threads. I have been all over the place searching for the "Go to aircraft" and have settled on the Wonderful Real Air Legacy. For me personally I have no need for either large airports or tubeliners. That holds true in real life as well as Sim Life. After spending more years than I care to think about in Simming, I have finally learned that I don't need 26 "Favorite" aircraft stars on my start up page. LOL!! I have also learned that I don't need 1CM, as real as it gets detailed scenery on a dedicated 40 TB hard drive of that little un-named dirt strip out in Northern Idaho even if it does include the area of thick bushes by the runway that comes in so handy when nature calls. 

The Legacy when equipped with a modern GTN 750 is just great for a bit of sight seeing of if you are in the mood then you can scream around the traffic pattern with your hair on fire! It's checklist fits great on a matchbook cover and you can kick the tires and light the fires and be in the air in the time it takes others to decide which color 737 they want to fly today. This approach has let me to another discovery. I now only use 2 tweaks to keep my system performing well. 1....the delete button....2.the delete button....LOL

For me my go to is the Leonardo MD-88.  Despite having flown it very often I'm still learning new things.  I like how intensive it is on the systems.  I also like that it's less automatic than some of my other airplanes.  I enjoy flying it greatly.  It looks good inside and out.  Finally, they continue to add new features  Over the last year we've seen a nice EFB, Pushover, as well as CPDLC.  Their forum is drama-less.  That's nice to see.  

FSLAbs A320 or PMDG 747 for me. I'm learning the Majestic Dash-8 but I think it's more of a 'nice for a change' aircraft. I mainly fly IFR tours on IVAO and the automation of the 'bus and the Queen allow me to do other stuff while flying. In FSX it used to be the A2A Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, but unfortunately they haven't converted it to P3D.

Leonardo MD88 for me.

It is just absurd how they manage to constantly improve this jet.

Flying is SAS-colors +SOP 😀

What a tough one. Some times I feel like a wealthy sheik with a haram (hanger) full of beauties' wanting my attention. Seems like I pull up the NGXu most, probably because of so many short real world flights available to copy. I still enjoy the PMDG QOTS and T7 in P3DV5 but don't like using time compress on those long hauls those craft were designed for. I prefer shorter hops with less then an hour of cruise time. The NGXu is very immersive augmented with FS2Crew and sound enhancements  by TSS and Immersive Audio.  Speaking of the Leonardo MD80 all these addons are available for that fantastic plane as well but I've haven't flown her much since the real ones were parked. I need to pull her out of the hanger and renew my currency. Good bit more complex and challenging then the NG. I have so many cool aircraft and sceneries I don't see myself ever leaving P3D though I do have the PMDG DC6 in MSFS.

This is a nice thread by the way.    

Nice to see some variety in the responses, and curious if there will end up being some consensus as well.

For me it's the PMDG 737NGXu. The truth is that the PMDG planes are always my go-to planes and it has everything to do with systems commonality and a rather simple operating philosophy, but the it's the 737 I usually end up flying. These days I don't have much time to fly, and usually I need at least 1-2 hours to setup and execute the flight. That means that I don't want to sit there and faff around when time is already precious. The 737 happens to be one of the planes I know best, and so I keep going back to it because I know what to do to get it up in the air and down again at my destination. It's also an immensely popular type so I can always find a route to use it on in any location in the world. Not to mention that my 'home' airline KLM uses them.

That said, when I. finally have time to get something new going, I'm planning on learning the FSLabs A320. I used to fly the Aerosoft A320 all the time, so I expect I could, at minimum, get the FSLabs in the air and down again without much hassle, but it has so many extra bells and whistles that it seems a bit of a waste of money to go and fly it as if it were the Aerosoft Airbus series... But, I need some time for it.

 

In p3d it's got to be the Lear 35 for me, by far my favourite business jet (In p3d at least),,, 😉 

I always prefer to fly something that's relatively small & fast, and that is by far the best business jet I have found in p3d short of BBJ liveries for the NGX (have not and will not be buying the NGXu). Not gone for the FMS though as I have stopped spending on p3d and the GTN does everything I need anyway (think I would choose that over FMS in any case!)

 

G

 

 

1 hour ago, Benjamin J said:

Nice to see some variety in the responses, and curious if there will end up being some consensus as well.

For me it's the PMDG 737NGXu. The truth is that the PMDG planes are always my go-to planes and it has everything to do with systems commonality and a rather simple operating philosophy, but the it's the 737 I usually end up flying. These days I don't have much time to fly, and usually I need at least 1-2 hours to setup and execute the flight. That means that I don't want to sit there and faff around when time is already precious. The 737 happens to be one of the planes I know best, and so I keep going back to it because I know what to do to get it up in the air and down again at my destination. It's also an immensely popular type so I can always find a route to use it on in any location in the world. Not to mention that my 'home' airline KLM uses them.

That said, when I. finally have time to get something new going, I'm planning on learning the FSLabs A320. I used to fly the Aerosoft A320 all the time, so I expect I could, at minimum, get the FSLabs in the air and down again without much hassle, but it has so many extra bells and whistles that it seems a bit of a waste of money to go and fly it as if it were the Aerosoft Airbus series... But, I need some time for it.

I would say I use FSlabs the most, it's just so realistic - procedures, sounds, feeling... The immersion is just amazing.

I was never flying the Airbus much but with FSlabs it's the one I fly the most currently.

I've also had the Aerosoft version for years but never looked back 😀

My go-to short-haul Aircraft is the Leonardo Maddog MD82 - I haven't so far paid for the 83/88 Expansion but I do plan to expand into that at some point. The TSS Soundpack for the Engines & Immersive Audio Pack for the Flight Deck make for a lovely experience sonically as well. On occasion I still use the old PMDG NGX, but hope to move to the NGXU at some point. I've recently given the Aerosoft narrowbody airbusses another go but I'm not a fan of not having control over the throttles during Approaches and flying them manually with a yoke is a bit uncomfortable. If I ever move into Airbus proper it'll be via the FSLabs I feel.

Long-haul it's always the PMDG 744 for me, I never get tired of taking it into Kai Tak and I love to fly Cargo-routes in it. It's my favourte aircraft handling-wise as well, while I like the Maddog it can sometimes be a bit of a pig to land in a crosswind in my experience, whereas a nice heavy 744 I find comparatively easier to put on a stablised approach. I don't know about anybody else but I know of little more satisfaction than that to be gained from greasing a landing and hearing the Speedbrakes deploy - I have a thing with mechanical noises.

I don't currently use any other aircraft for Long-Hauls but the TFDI MD-11 will be a day1 purchase and with hope a certain long-promised 747 Classic will also be up-to-scratch when finally released.

A2A Bonanza followed by the NGXu if I feel the need for button pushing.