>After reading this post, I was about to question why I have>to purchase Office, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Visual Studio, and>I don't count the others I have! They are all been developped>with the Windows API!>>And don't forget: any of these items running on Windows cost>more than the sim, euh, sorry, than Windows...You don't have to. You use Open Office, Gimp, Gcc or one of the other free open alternatives.Then again we should al be flying FlightGear to keep the money in our pockets ;-)

Where else... AVSIM (FDSFXPNL.ZIP) or do a search under FDSFX or Marcus Thompson to see all the available add-ons for it.

The flight sim add on market is pretty shady, so keep that in mind. They tend to over promise and under deliver. Out of all the add on aircraft I have foolishly purchased, there are only a few I actually fly with any regularity, due to thier superb qualiy and fun factor. So if you want to buy just a single aircraft add on, and provided you are into this type of aircraft, I would go for one of these three:The Shockwave P-40 Warhawk (Best FSX Warbird available and the most impressive soundset ever).http://www.shockwaveproductions.com/store/wop2_p40/The RealAir SF-260 and the RealAir Citabria/Scout/Decathlion package (Best GA fun factor and flight models available).http://www.realairsimulations.com/home.php?page=home Once the RealAir Spitfire comes out for FSX it will be my number one favorite, but until then these are the planes I fly.If you want some good freeware scenery get the Bella Coola scenery from the library, as its the best freeware scenery package I have seen.

That is true there is a good freeware/opensource offering as well. Unfortunately, except maybe for Open Office, none of the other offer as much features and capabilities we need for nowadays addons.Sure enough, we use a freeware installer though that in my opinion is excellent and better than many payware installers: inno setup.

>Here's a bird I'm getting a lot of enjoyment out of at the>moment. It's the de Havilland Dragon Rapide by Dave Garwood>and the CBFS Design team. The zip file is called dh89fsx.zip,>and it's in the Avsim library. I've added an HSI popup panel,>and one with a full set of radios and AP. It's a taildragger>but it's a pleasure to fly, and it just goes to show that you>get an amazing variety of historic aircraft from the freeware>developers which you just don't get in payware.>>Mike.I'm flying that Dragon Rapide from England to India. The old empire route.I'm presently in southern Italy. About to cross the great Tyrrhenean Sea, the largest expanse of open water I will see...RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

>Im sure that must not be the case for FS else they'd not be>able to charge for it, unless of course they are using third>party software to create the items, in which case it would be>hard (impossible?) for MS to enforce the same rule that any>items created for the game that they own can not be sold if>the party developed it with software that wasn't created by>Microsoft or whomever owns FSX.>MS works with 3rd party (freeware/payware) developers; because they know, that many us expect "specialized" aircraft that take months & months, if not years of dedicated work, to keep some of us happy!I'm happy to pay for these creations, so that the developers can have food, shelter, and shoes for their kids...L.Adamson

There are a number of very good companies out there. Flight 1 will give you a refund within 30 days if you don't like the product - so they are a good publisher/vendor to deal with. 1. PMDG makes excellent airliner add-ons. High level of fidelity, good flight models, excellent people and good support. They have been making planes since before FS2000 was released - though their early releases were for Fly and FlyII2. The Level D 767 set the bar for airliner add ons in MS back in FS2000 under the name Pilot in Command. It is still an excellent product in FSX again, with a high degree of fidelity and a great team who develop and support it. 3. The Aeroworx King Air is an outstanding turbo prop for FS9 - with amazing gauges, good flight model, and good systems fidelity. Paired with Reality XP gauges, it is still my favorite FS9 airplane. 4. Dreamfleet makes terrific GA aircraft and one mean three holer for FS9 - and it looks like we will see their first FSX offering before xmas. They also partnered with Flight1 on the ATR-500, which is a terrific plane that flies well in both FS9 and FSX. 5. Reality XP makes amazing GPS units for FS9 - perhaps the thing I miss most flying in FSX.Developers on the rise:1. Feel There - the ERJ and Legacy jets are terrific though I like the flight models of the planes above better. 2. CLS - I don't own them but folks are having a lot of fun with their DC10 product which is "lite" product (fewer systems - easier to fly)3. Carenado - GA aircraft modeller - quality of visuals is definitely on the rise, though not at the Dreamfleet level. 4. Eaglesoft - Dedicated to biz jets and high end GA aircraft. They fly well and graphically coming up to the levels of the very best. Their simulation of the avionics in the Cirrus is very good. Be wary:Captain Sim: I own the Hercules and its a pretty good effort - though gauge refresh rates in the VC are abominable. They have been promising the full systems package for their 757 for years, literally - yet to be delivered I think. I don't like the flight models on the 727 or the 707 - they don't go where you point themAriane: just do a forum search here - it will make entertaining reading.These would be good places to start. Most have review links on their websites so you can see how the press liked them. Stick with the AVSIM and the Andrew Herd reviews on flightsim.com for good objectivity.

That's most kind of you to say about us, and we really appreciate it. But just to clarify: While we are *trying* to get an FSX aircraft out by Christmas (my Piper Dakota), that was just "hope" on our part, I have already decided we will wait a bit on that, and try to get it out by the first of the year, maybe even a bit after that too.I decided that aside from providing a fully compliant FSX model for no extra cost for those who buy the FS9 version (one price for both FS9 / FSX), I decided today that we need to kick the FSX version up a couple of notches, and have challenged the DF team to do just that!Let's see what they come up with, as I already gave them a few ideas that will burn the "midnight oil"! Of course they might also send a "hit man" after me for that suggestion too! :-bang As to Carenado: I met their Fernando Herrera at DevCon last month, and we hung out quite a bit together. What a nice, soft spoken gentleman he is. It was a pleasure to meet him. They certainly do very nice work.Thanks again and Happy Holidays! :)Regards,http://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...R_FORUM_LOU.jpg

Good list, but RealAir Simulations definitely belongs in the "Top Tier" of add-on developers.Fantastic and great performing planes! Their SF260 is a true "classic".