Hi everyone,I'm seriously considering to learn to fly. From that perspective, I'm looking for a really good commercial Cessna 172 or 152 with the closest to reality flight model and cockpit. This is to help me practice what I'll learn up there.I know that Carenado produces excellent planes but are there any other excellent products out there ? Tx and have a safe flight.Louie.

Try this outstanding C150. It's better than some of my payware and it's free.http://drk.free.fr/tutoriels/creation/c150_en.php I also can recommend the Flight1 C152 and the RealAir C172, both payware planes.BlairCYOWedit: The C150 and the C152 work fine in FSX. I can't say if the C172 does as I've only flown it in FS9 on a friend's system

Concur absolutely! AsBlair says - that little FS Tutorials C150 is outstanding! 4 stars:-beerchug

Without a doubt, agreed. The C 150 is truly fantastic - and free!Hint for C150. If you want to experience flight without glass reflexions/aging, just temporarily move the 2 files in the various texture folders (of the c150) named glas (whatever) to the main c150 folder. That removes the glass texture entirely giving you a totally clear view. You can move the glas files back anytime you want to experience the reflexions/aging.

Good tip, Howard - thanks: you're right - the reflections are a bit on the heavy side, aren't they?

And what's wrong with the default Cessna 172...? The FSX version is very good: just as good if not better than payware. Don't let some other, more crappy, default planes fool you! There are some very nice aircraft in the FSX-box!

BTW Anyone knows how to download that C150 from here:http://drk.free.fr/tutoriels/creation/c150_en.phpI got interested after this topic AND after reading the Treasure Chest on AVSIM. You need a password to download but the provided password on the site won't let me in... Anywhere else I can download this plane from...?

Actually, Realair's C172 isn't payware...it's just an airfile mod and a repaint of the defualt (FS2002) C172...

Uh. . . compas is spelled as here - with only one "s" :- compas and capI just checked it, and it works fine.:-)

Looks pretty oustanding. And this is free ? Wow.Thanks for the info, I just downloaded it and will give it a ride.Louie

Just a note, in addition to Howard's advice on the glass reflections: this little gem has the best take-off torque/gyro and p-effect representation of any aircraft in the sim world that I've ever tried.Happy Landings!

Louie,you might want to take a look at Eaglesoft's Columbia 400. http://www.eaglesoftdg1.com/General_AviationX.htm It is a great little single prop but the frames are not quite as good as defaults but it sure is fun to fly. Carl

>Uh. . . compas is spelled as here - with only one "s" :-Yes, thx, but I'm not THAT dumb. :( ;) Anyway, I tried to download it on my laptop and it worked right away. Apparently something on my desktop computer is not working right. I'm really curious about the plane: the screenshot of the VC didn't impress me, but everyone is enthousiastic about it, so... EDIT:O, pity, it's a FS2004 plane... Anyone knows if you can simply install it in FSX...?

Hi Louie,As a Cessna pilot myself I find the RealAir C172 to be about the most realistic to fly. It's been tweaked by Rob Young from Real Air who is well known for his accurate flight models and was designed for an Australian flight school with the same intentions as you have. And best of all, as has already been mentioned, it's free!! I also own the Flight1 C172 and this comes in a close second, but has far better panel graphics. If you combine the Flight1 panels with the Real Air aircraft config file, you'd feel like your in the real thing. :)Real Air also have a similar aircraft tweak for the default C182 when you advance in your training.Here is the link to the free download:http://www.realairsimulations.com/list_box...?page=downloadsGood luck,Ken.

A bit of advice when using FS for flight training, which you may have heard already:Don't stare at the gauges! It's pretty hard to use FS to practice maneuvering flight such as turns around a point and s-turns... Even straight and level flight can be a challenge, as all FS aircraft are harder to trim than in real life. Don't concentrate much on holding exact altitudes and headings, as you'll probably end up looking at the gauges way too much.FS comes in handy the most when practicing cross country flights... you'll get good practice tracking VOR's, and you'll know what the airport will look like once you get there. I would have had a much harder time spotting the airport on one of my XC's if it weren't for FS.I would highly recommend TrackIR... It helps immensely in the pattern, and you can set the view so the gauges don't take up half the screen anymore.Hope this helps! I'm sure FS can help a student pilot shed several hours off training, especially in the begining, where you'll have a head start knowing the basic cockpit layout and a familiarity with many aspects of flying. As far as planes go, all of the planes mentioned above work great. If you're in FS9, Dreamfleet's Archer is also a great plane.Paul