10 hours ago, JYW said:

 One issue I found with the Century IV autopilot is that when I engage it, I get an unnatural pitch 'jerk' and pitch down moment, which is not seen with the real unit.   In the real unit, the pitch wheel 'moves' while the AP is OFF, so that it's always aligned with the aircraft's current attitude.   So when you engage AP, it's a smooth match between the current attitude and the held attitude.   There should be no pitch down or up movements when the AP is engaged.

Hmm, no, that's not what the real unit does. The pitch wheel does not move when the AP is off and it syncs to aircraft attitude only on certain triggers. Engaging the autopilot is not one of them, at least according to the real manual. The modes remain as programmed before the engagement and the aircraft will follow indications set on the flight director.

I'll ask Scott if he can still test it on his aircraft.

Regarding sounds, do you have Loudness Limiter enabled in MSFS Sound settings? That may cause issues on some configurations. Also check your Texture Resolution setting while you're there, the higher the better 🙂

Edited October 4, 2025Oct 4 by some1

On 10/4/2025 at 9:03 AM, some1 said:

Hmm, no, that's not what the real unit does. The pitch wheel does not move when the AP is off and it syncs to aircraft attitude only on certain triggers. Engaging the autopilot is not one of them, at least according to the real manual. The modes remain as programmed before the engagement and the aircraft will follow indications set on the flight director.

I'll ask Scott if he can still test it on his aircraft.

Regarding sounds, do you have Loudness Limiter enabled in MSFS Sound settings? That may cause issues on some configurations. Also check your Texture Resolution setting while you're there, the higher the better 🙂

Thanks for the pointers, I'll check those.

I must have been getting my classic APs mixed up - apologies!

Can you advise the procedure required for a smooth AP engagement?   Does the pilot rotate the pitch wheel until s/he sees that the flight director pitch is aligned with the current, before engaging?

You can press ATT button again, or the yoke "pitch sync" button before engaging AP. Both will sync the pitch wheel to the current pitch.

The yoke button is not visible and has to be bound to a key in a certain way, details are in the aircraft manual.

Edited October 5, 2025Oct 5 by some1

Aerostar now also available for 2020 version for anyone who is interested! 

Edited October 9, 2025Oct 9 by CAP1234

I have 414aw 310R and Comanche 250 (single engine but from A2A)

 

Should I get aerostart 600 or duke(just one, not both)?

 

Their performance in flight looks same

2 hours ago, MayuyuYukirin said:

I have 414aw 310R and Comanche 250 (single engine but from A2A)

 

Should I get aerostart 600 or duke(just one, not both)?

 

Their performance in flight looks same

I don't have the Duke but the Aerostar is great. I'm waiting for the blsq Baron !!

Btw, the C414 is as good as any of them IMO.

2 hours ago, MayuyuYukirin said:

I have 414aw 310R and Comanche 250 (single engine but from A2A)

Should I get aerostart 600 or duke(just one, not both)?

Their performance in flight looks same

Both are a blast to fly, so it really depends on the kind of flying you’re planning to do. The Duke’s turbocharged, pressurized, and has deicing, so if you want to cruise in the flight levels and not worry much about weather, that’s probably your plane. But if you're mostly flying in nice weather and just want something fast and fun for local hops, I'd lean toward the Aerostar.

5 hours ago, MayuyuYukirin said:

I have 414aw 310R and Comanche 250 (single engine but from A2A)

 

Should I get aerostart 600 or duke(just one, not both)?

 

Their performance in flight looks same

That's very much a personal choice - I think the flight and engine modelling of the Aerostar is astonishingly good - up there which the A2A Comanche which I consider the best GA plane in any sim. But I personally don't enjoy flying it as much as the Duke because I don't get on well with some of the design decisions made for the real world Aerostar.

Edited October 10, 2025Oct 10 by Matchstick

6 hours ago, MayuyuYukirin said:

Their performance in flight looks same

Down low perhaps, but remember the Duke is turbocharged and pressurized, whereas the Aerostar is normally aspirated.  The Aerostar is probably the better choice for VFR, sub-to-low teens altitude flying.  A better "watch the world go by" plane too.  The Duke is better for IFR in the low 20's, all-weather flying.

Don't (yet!) have the Aerostar as I'm still on 2020 and the '20 version is just coming out.  Having owned a number of A2A planes, though, I'm sure it's exceptionally well done.  Do own the Duke and it's absolutely one of my all time favorite planes.  Simply excellent in all ways.  The choice really comes down to which plane's mission fits your needs/wants.

 

Scott

 

1 hour ago, tttocs said:

Down low perhaps, but remember the Duke is turbocharged and pressurized, whereas the Aerostar is normally aspirated.  The Aerostar is probably the better choice for VFR, sub-to-low teens altitude flying.  A better "watch the world go by" plane too.  The Duke is better for IFR in the low 20's, all-weather flying.

It's an interesting topic that seems to often come up in discussions. Looking at published performance figures from POH, the Aerostar 600 is faster than Duke at altitudes below 10000 ft. Actually, at low altitude it's faster even than later turbocharged variants of Aerostar. Not to mention it burns less fuel, but that of course is not a big issue in the simulator. Duke is obviously faster at high altitude where it can make use of the turbochargers. 

You're right about VFR, I may be biased, but I think the Aerostar has the best cockpit visibility out of of all GA twins. Very large windows and no engines blocking the view. That being said, it also comes with complete avionics setup for IFR flights.

The visibility in the Aerostar is outstanding. The problem I have with the Dukes is the limited visibility. I prefer the BS TBM 850 over the Dukes for this reason. Otherwise, the Dukes have the best system depth followed by the TBM, then the Aerostar, but all three are top notch! And IMO, the Aerostar has the best flight modeling of these three.

I fly the Aerostar the most simply because I prefer to fly at lower altitudes to take in the scenery. And the Aerostar does have a deicer. I just used it in a flight in Alaska and it worked well, but it’s definitely not suited for high altitude flying; best to fly it under 15,000 feet. It really comes down to how you like to fly. They are all worthy editions to your hanger. I picked up both versions of the Duke for under $40 during the last sale. So perhaps get the Aerostar now then wait for the next sale to get the Dukes and/or TBM 850. 

8 hours ago, MayuyuYukirin said:

I have 414aw 310R and Comanche 250 (single engine but from A2A)

 

Should I get aerostart 600 or duke(just one, not both)?

 

Their performance in flight looks same

You need both the Aerostar and the Dukes lol

I very much enjoy both of them.

29 minutes ago, some1 said:

It's an interesting topic that seems to often come up in discussions. Looking at published performance figures from POH, the Aerostar 600 is faster than Duke at altitudes below 10000 ft.

This is accurate.  The Duke really does well in the high teens to low FL200s.  (This is why we need a 702P Aerostar wink wink wink wink wink) HAHA!  I think the grand duke does about 250 ktas under best conditions at FL250.  Whereas the 702P Aerostar does 262 ktas or something.

Then of course you'd have pressurization, and flight into known icing - which the Dukes have... which is sometimes why I tend to fly those.  In northern climates it's difficult to take the Aerostar of one wants to fly realistically 🙂

Actually I tend to get lower performance by quite a bit vs the charts.  Conditions are ISA, approx same gross weight as the chart.  I'm only seeing 211 ktas.  Book says 245.5

edit:  Oh I bet these values are in MPH vs knots.  Then it's pretty dang close when you divide by 1.15 then!

on Flickr

 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2025Oct 10 by ryanbatc

1 hour ago, some1 said:

You're right about VFR, I may be biased, but I think the Aerostar has the best cockpit visibility out of of all GA twins. Very large windows and no engines blocking the view. That being said, it also comes with complete avionics setup for IFR flights.

Yep, sightseeing visibility in the Duke is probably its weakest point, while the Aerostar's rearward wing position and large windows make for amazing views from the cockpit.  As for IFR, I mentioned "IFR in the low 20s" for the Duke.  Just to be clear, I did not mean to imply that the Aerostar is not a capable IFR plane.  It certainly is, but the Duke's turbocharging, pressurization and full anti-ice simply make it a more capable one.

As Ryan says - "You need both"!  I know I do, and am looking forward to picking up the Aerostar soon now that the '20 version is out.  My default lower altitude twin has been the Blackbird/Milviz 310 lately.  Much as I enjoy that plane, I have a strong hunch that the Aerostar will shortly take over that position.

 

Scott

4 hours ago, Matchstick said:

That's very much a personal choice - I think the flight and engine modelling of the Aerostar is astonishingly good - up there which the A2A Comanche which I consider the best GA plane in any sim. But I personally don't enjoy flying it as much as the Duke because I don't get on well with some of the design decisions made for the real world Aerostar.

This is me too.  I can't take anything away from A2A but I don't fly the Aerostar as much as the Duke (or the 414, TBM or Comanche) because I'm just not drawn to the real Aerostar much (especially the non pressurized model, featured).

These are all amazing GA aircraft and you can't go wrong with any of them.   IMO the FSW 414 doesn't get as much fanfare or praise as it deserves.   A totally different category but the FSW Sierra C24R is absolutely amazing too - so immersive and fantastic avionics options, from steam gauges to G5s, GTNs and G3Xs.  

Avionics play a part for my choices.  I do wish A2A would consider providing us with more options for newer avionics. The autopilot in the Aerostar is very basic (and the Comanche even more so!).    Imagine an option to have a Garmin GFC500 in the Comanche and Aerostar!

The FSW 414 gives you a fantastic rendition of the Garmin GFC600 AP (which we don't see a lot of in the sim). 

I do like vintage APs sometimes but I mostly love the capability of modern set ups, like the GFC500 and 600. 

Edited October 10, 2025Oct 10 by JYW