I've had a run of unsuccessful long-haul flights in MSFS lately.  Mostly due to a few circumstancial issues, rather than any specific major issue with my installation.  Eg. I flew a long-haul with the PMDG BBJ, on the release that had the freezing issue (now fixed), and had to abort the flight just prior to my destination.  I tried another with the Headwind A330 and came back to me screen after a 6 hour sleep, to find an empty desktop 🤔 (not sure what happened on that one).

Anyway, like most people, I don't pay too much attention to the default aircraft.  But last night I commenced a flight in the Cessna Longitude from Newcastle (EGNT) UK, to Detroit (KDTW) US.  It was quite comfortably within the Longitude's 3500nm range.  The WT avionics suite in the Longitude are just divine.   Around 1 hour into the flight I went off to bed.   I set my cruise speed (Longitude model in MSFS doesn't appear to have an A/T Arm button, so I used the keyboard shortcut) to a slower than typical M0.77, to ensure I didn't arrive in Detroit while still sleeping 😄

I returned after a good night's sleep to find everything perfect in my flight - I was around 300nm from Detroit, cruising down through northern Ontario.  The WT avionics were able to use a NATS Track-style set of long/lat waypoints.  My TOD was displayed perfrectly.  A little later, I armed VNAV, set my descent speed in the FMS VNAV CRUISE page and down I went - right on point.

I performed a RNAV 22R approach, arming GP mode at the IAF and the plane flew down to 500' perfectly, where I disconnected the AP and A/T and made a buttery landing.

If you fancy a long-hauler (<3500nm) in something with truly excellent avionics, stable as a rock, that will get you there (and will still be flying when you return from sleep - as long as you don't oversleep 😊) the Longitude Bizjet is a really great option.   The only mod I was using was Mgouge's FDE enhancement, which doesn't touch any systems, just makes a few realism tweaks to the flightmodel.cfg and engines.cfg.

So what made this 'default' and not 'high end'? .... well, I couldn't open the door on landing... 🤔😊  ... everything else about the flight in the Longitude was truly high end. WT have done a stellar job with the avionics in the Longitude, CJ4, TBM etc.

Happy days.

Edited April 9, 20242 yr by JYW

@JYW arm button is on the back of the throttles, you don't need a keyboard shortcut for it.

They have definitely done a good job on both that and the CJ4 though, only thing I need to keep an eye out for are tight (or procedural) turns on approach as the WT avionics doesn't plan them properly until your ground speed has slowed down....

G

1 minute ago, Gazzareth said:

arm button is on the back of the throttles, you don't need a keyboard shortcut for it.

Ahhhhh, gotcha!   Makes sense.  Cheers 👍

Yeah, the Longitude is one of the best default airplanes in any sim...ever. It just works. The avionics are perfect. It really is a great plane and I've really enjoyed flying it for the last year or so, especially after the WT treatment and the navigraph charts implementation. 

3 hours ago, JYW said:

So what made this 'default' and not 'high end'?

doors don't open, no cabin, etc. It flies well enough, but it's just a cockpit and decent outside visuals. 

9 minutes ago, Ricardo41 said:

doors don't open, no cabin, etc. It flies well enough, but it's just a cockpit and decent outside visuals. 

You forgot failures and working CB's other than that its OK.

2 hours ago, JBDB-MD80 said:

You forgot failures and working CB's other than that its OK

Well, and no real systems modeling...

22 minutes ago, Cognita said:

Well, and no real systems modeling...

What?!  The Longitude is one of the most advanced bizjets in any sim.  It's got advanced systems and especially avionics.  The only bizjet I can think of that has higher fidelity systems and avionics is the Challenger in XP11/12.

 

8 minutes ago, ryanbatc said:

What?!  The Longitude is one of the most advanced bizjets in any sim.  It's got advanced systems and especially avionics.  The only bizjet I can think of that has higher fidelity systems and avionics is the Challenger in XP11/12.

 

At one point in time in the past I expressed my dislike for the CJ4. Since you thought it was really good, I thought I should try it out and have been flying it since there's not too many bizjets available in MSFS to play around with anyway. I surprised myself by having "adapted" another way of viewing the hard-to-read panels and as a result I'm beginning to like the CJ4. Fast forward several updates. How does the CJ4 now compare to the Longitude? Does the Longitude have higher fidelity systems and avionics than the CJ4?

2 minutes ago, bofhlusr said:

At one point in time in the past I expressed my dislike for the CJ4. Since you thought it was really good, I thought I should try it out and have been flying it since there's not too many bizjets available in MSFS to play around with anyway. I surprised myself by having "adapted" another way of viewing the hard-to-read panels and as a result I'm beginning to like the CJ4. Fast forward several updates. How does the CJ4 now compare to the Longitude? Does the Longitude have higher fidelity systems and avionics than the CJ4?

The Longitude is definitely more advanced than the CJ4.  Though I also enjoy the CJ4.

8 minutes ago, ryanbatc said:

The Longitude is definitely more advanced than the CJ4.  Though I also enjoy the CJ4.

Thank you. I guess, it's time for me to check the Longitude again. Last time I spent time on it, it didn't have the HUD, had quite a few INOP buttons, and unavailable reference manuals.

16 minutes ago, ryanbatc said:

The Longitude is definitely more advanced than the CJ4.  Though I also enjoy the CJ4.

Keep getting errors trying import the FP on the CJ4 lately? Yours works?

6 minutes ago, bofhlusr said:

Thank you. I guess, it's time for me to check the Longitude again. Last time I spent time on it, it didn't have the HUD, had quite a few INOP buttons, and unavailable reference manuals.

Still doesn't have the HUD as it doesn't appear to be widely available (as of last time I looked) on the real aircraft.

WT can't model it if they don't have details on it. 

Doubt the number of inop buttons have changed, although even with that it's still pretty good. If you want a proper study level bizjet though you are in the wrong sim...

 

G

7 minutes ago, Flyfaster_MTN002 said:

Keep getting errors trying import the FP on the CJ4 lately? Yours works?

Is your Navigraph on the latest version? Have been some updates to the current AIRAC.

G

1 minute ago, Gazzareth said:

If you want a proper study level bizjet though you are in the wrong sim...

I'm waiting for Xtreme Prototype's Learjet 25 which will be available in MSFS. It's a very fast fighter jet masquerading as a bizjet and a high workload aircraft with lots of non-boring things to do eg. spoilers, reverse thrust, lots of dials to check, etc..