Earlier this year I inadvertently set out on a Tour De Med (NeoFly tracking pic below, 62 Legs in all from February to December 2021), flying clockwise from Spain mainly in the XCub before finishing up in the Caravan from Egypt onwards. I used Hard Landing Strips for the vast majority of my landings, especially with the Caravan. Now with Australia the number of hard strips is extremely limited in some more rural areas, also with some massive Legs involved in between which, with time constraints, may not be possible. So I'm tempted to revert back to the XCub so that smaller airstrips and even Bush Landings are more readily available, the latter could prove more useful in the long run as I can settle & camp down anywhere, practically no need to "plan" a route as such - just follow the coastline.

But then Australia is huuuuuge, so that may take a long time and as the Tour De Med took the better half of a year to complete (of which a lot of the early Legs were completed during Lockdown/Furlough), Aus in an XCub could take 18months+...! A challenge of course but I'd rather it didn't take that long, so perhaps a faster moving XCub or equivalent could be used to cover more ground? and that's where I need your help - I have the Standard MSFS Package but willing to Buy something that's similar single seater style to the XCub (for maximum viewing, the Caravan is OK but prefer something a little smaller with better viewing) but perhaps a bit faster? I'm by no means no Plane expert, there maybe something in he Standard package that'll do, but if not I'm willing to listen to a possible outside purchase.

P.S. Also bearing in mind I'll be using Live Weather but not Real Time as I'm in the UK, otherwise I'd be forever flying in Night and you can't see jack that way!

Edited December 30, 20214 yr by MarcG

This sounds like the ideal use for the Quest Kodiak from Simworks Studios. I recommend checking out the threads here about it, as it seems incredibly popular.

It's not single seated and it is a rather large aircraft, but..

It's primarily a bush plane, it's fast, smaller than the caravan, not pressurised but it has supplemental oxygen, hand flies nicely but has a working autopilot. It's like a Caravan but more capable and more versatile.

It has also been popularised by the youtube channel Missonary Bush Pilot, who flies in and out of mud strips on the side of cliffs in the Oceania region on a daily basis in the real aircraft.

Edited December 30, 20214 yr by Rudiii

To make it short: Definately the Kodiak! I just departed northern germany towards New Zealand three days ago and its just a great companion for trips like that.

A bit faster than the XCub but slow enough to keep that Low n Slow VFR Feeling.

Give it a try! It's worth it!

If you wait a bit, a few weeks, we'll have a great Goose for you. Twin engine radial, lots of character, and floats, so you can settle down pretty much anywhere. Also, rather fittingly, half of the team is Australian 😄

Kodiak 100 indeed. Period. It's the only option you have. 😉 Yes, it's not a single seater but it is the best plane you can get for what you are planning to do. If you buy it from the dev itself it will be (way) cheaper (and you'll have any updates on release day) so I'd get it from there!

well in the begining - when FS2020 was released I sussed out my home field here in Oz - Bankstown Airport & just got used to learning to fly the simulator.

After doing many of the navexs from BK that I used to teach I decided to circumnavigate Australia - at that time the only aircraft that was in any way suitable for a scenic flight like that was the Carenado C182T - so I set off from BK and began my epic flight coastal - both learning to fly the simulator & learning how to work the navigation syatems as well

I landed back in BK after flying 55hrs in the C182T usually at an altitude of 5000' - except where I really had some fun low level - like the arrow straight transcontinental railway line from WA to SA - very tiring at below 300' all the way.

Anyhow the biggest disapointment of the whole flight was when the sim had a serious hic up regarding sensitivity settings - that occured first around Albany in WA - especially in turbulent conditions where I some how over stressed the airplane in S&L!!! Not just once but several times - it was the sim at a bad stage of development. At that stage I just about gave up on the sim because it had become unflyable.

The other problem that irks me most is that I lost all my hours up to when the sim had one of it's upgrades - so I lost the entire 55hrs on the circumnavigation & more that I had already flown.

Having said all that I would suggest to you that you wait until the next scenery update that will feature Australia believe me there is some absolutly stunning areas & also some seriously boring parts.

Yep I'm waiting for the World Update before commencing the journey, thanks all I'll look into the Kodiak but prefer a single seater so will see 🙂

10 hours ago, MarcG said:

Yep I'm waiting for the World Update before commencing the journey, thanks all I'll look into the Kodiak but prefer a single seater so will see 🙂

One more vote for the Kodiak 🙂

Milviz PC-6 for me

For a more easier to fly airplane than the Kodiak, the Asobo version Huskey.  Landing at 9:22.

At 2:14 a glipmse at one of my favorites too, the old school Cessna Birddog from Black Box Simulation, but it can't speed along and does not land so nice as the Huskey. That was true in real life too.

 

 

 

SWS Kodiak