the must have payware a/c for PE?

[wdhurley]

So, I'm a long time FSX user and a private pilot. I just picked up X-plane from a friend who didn't use it. I'm not thrilled with the base aircraft, at least for PE use. What are the must haves for general aviation or light commercial?

[sronayne96]

Any of the Carenado aircraft are generally a good bet for GA.In terms of light commercial maybe check out JRollon's CRJ-200 or Jetstream 32 and perhaps the LES Saab 340A.

[Keith Smith]

Walt,

The stock Baron is pretty good, especially the 3rd pit. Otherwise, I have to concur with Sronayne96's comments.

I wouldn't go add-on crazy when you're first settling into XP. It takes a while to get into the swing of things, getting the rendering configured, programming the quicklook views, etc.

[wdhurley]

I have been playing with the default a/c and a few freeware a/c and haven't found anything that makes me feel like I could accurately fly it in an IFR environment. I did pick up the J32 (blast you, Keith!) and had a great IFR flight with It from KVNY to KSBA with full ILS into 7 with winds @250. I'm sold on it. Keith, I have a question regarding capturing glideslope in the J32, but I'll get with you later on that.

[Keith Smith]

Walt, the stock Cessna is painful, I'm with you there. However, I have a few hundred hours in the stock Baron and have to disagree on it being unusable for IFR flight. Make sure you go to the joystick nullzone page, move the 3 sliders on the left column all the way to the left (for full flight model realism), then flatten the response curves with the sliders on the right to reduce the sensitivity about the center. This will vary based on preference and the type of input device you use, but mine are set to about 15-20% on the response curves.

What is the specific issue you're experiencing with the stock Baron?

[wdhurley]

Keith, I'll be honest. I flipped through the defaults very quickly and then chocked them up to being the same as FSX default aircraft- a good start but not intended for a network as intricate as PE. I will be giving the default B58 another shot. If you can pry me out of the J32

[ChrisS]

I only have two payware aircraft for X-Plane, since I'm fairly new to the platform. I use the Carenado King Air C90 and the Dreamfoil Bell 407. Both are excellent. The 407 is almost perfect, but much more pilot workload than the King Air. Obviously they fill different roles, but you really can't go wrong with either aircraft, especially for $35 a piece.