New aircraft purchase suggestion.

[joespeed52]

Hey forum users! I've been looking around for a new aircraft I could use. I eventually would like to be able to fly airliners in real life in the next few years, and have been getting hours towards my ppl. I've been searching and searching, but need some opinions. My budget is a bit limited, and I may want to wait for the next payday. I'm looking for a good regional jet or short hop airliner. No turboprops, no long hauls. Anything in the A320 family, ERJ, smaller boeings, or CRJ preferably. I've been interested in the default crj texture fixes and better vc, but I want something with actual systems to control. I also think for it to be cool to start on APU power and bleed air. Something cool, and suggestions appreciated. Thanks,
-Joe

[Mickel]

The NGX is pretty much held up as the gold standard 737.

Aerosoft make a nice A320 family (318-321). It's got a virtual FO to talk you through the checklists. It does what I want it to do. The FSL one was supposed to be the bees knees, but there appears to be some dissatisfaction with texturing and VAS. Don't know. Don't have it.

There has been a CRJ WIP for a loooong time. It might see the light of day this year.

There is also a new B717. Some appear happy, others aren't. Sounds like it was released at about v0.8.

[AKar]

NGX is pretty solid simulation and easy to get along with. Systems simulation is rather good in it, having proper "buttonlogy" with actually some modest depth here and there. The 737 is a good airplane for simulation in that sense it gives you quite a bit to do. In terms of texturing, PMDG does rather impressive job. There is this years old debate on the cockpit geometry; perhaps it indeed looks a bit weird from the seat position, but it doesn't bother me.

FSL is the top Airbus product in terms of realism, by a wide margin, if you prefer the bus. The product is still under active development, and additional features are on the developer's list, together with some bug fixes. Setting it up takes a bit of patience, but is pretty straightforward. Texturing doesn't bother me, albeit as of now there is still some room for improvement of course. I've never had any VAS issues with it on P3Dv3. Systems simulation go deeper than on the NGX in many areas, and the sounds are very impressive - a point that is more important to me than the sharpness of textures.

Just a quick comparison of the two products I happen to have used, from my point of view. You can't go wrong having either or both.

-Esa

[Levkovvvv]

I have to jump in and mention the Majestic dash8 q400 if you are into turboprops. The flight dynamics, which are external to fsx/p3d engine are spectacular and the systems depth on the pro edition is awesome as well.

[cristi.neagu]

There is this years old debate on the cockpit geometry; perhaps it indeed looks a bit weird from the seat position, but it doesn't bother me.

PMDG have actually confirmed that they had to move the overhead higher than normal to make the heads up display work properly.

Even so, I recommend the NGX. Beautiful aircraft to hand fly. Some of the most fun I've had in FS was doing touch and go patterns with it.

[joespeed52]

Well, I can't say I haven't looked at these. The NGX has always been pretty high on the list, as are the A320 family packs. I've also been looking at the many CRJ ERJ packs out there, since I am fond of both the 73, A320, and mostly the default Crj for simplicity in the panel. I'll keep looking and coming back to the forums to see what other suggestions there are.

As for the FSL A230, wow. It looks good, but $100? If I had the money I'd rather spend it on the NGX. Lol!

[AKar]

What comes to the pricing of the addons, it is inevitable that when costs and effort to produce one goes up with increasing addon complexity, so will the price. It is not that FSL is that much steeper than others on that market: PMDG 747 is $135 for P3D, NGX is $90 and FSL is $140. FSX prices are $90, $70 and $100 respectively, so those are pretty much in line with each other. The pricing of A2A products is actually very competitive, at $80 for P3D and $50/$60 for FSX, which is excellent.

-Esa

[n421nj]

How about the connie or stratocruiser? You can fly almost as high and as fast as the jets with a built in career mode and full system modelling.

[joespeed52]

I would like something a bit newer and more complex, not that A2A's propliners aren't, but they aren't in my scope right now. I'd like something faster and to fly higher than what I have now, and I've been looking so fruitlessly. I really like the QW 757, because of the many different models and LOWer price. I've been watching NGX videos, and I think I'll really like it. I just need to save my money right now. We're in a slow time at work, and not much has come through lately.
-Joe

[norfolkmike]

If you want a jet, with systems, I'd recommend you give the FlySimWare Lear 35A some consideration. It comes up in sales every now and then, and although the cockpit textures aren't in the same league as the A2A and PMDG ones, it has great functionality, the FPS are good and it should keep you absorbed for a while! It might be a little small for your needs, but maybe worth a look?

[DeeJay]

I could also highly recommend PMDG's 737NGX, if it is not above your price limit. If it is, the Aerosoft Airbus is certainly also a very good choice, even if its system depth is not quite PMDG's level.
If you're not too keen about the graphics, have a look at Feelthere's Embraer packages. I for example have their ERJ-135/145 and the E175/195. In terms of systems it's really good. But graphics are really old fashioned. However, if you don't care about that too much, it still flies really well in P3D v3, even if it was developed for FSX originally.

If you care about systems in any way, I would NOT recommend the QW 757. Well, it looks and sounds very good, but the systems are really sooo basic that it has never grown on me. For example a lot of FMC functions don't work, as well as quite a lot of switches from the VC. Sometimes it can't even fly its own programmed route - let alone SIDs and STARs - because it only can overfly the waypoints and cannot make a proper turn to intercept the next leg in some curves. So the AIRAC support doesn't even make too much sense for it.

However, what works is the LevelD 767. Flight1 released a P3D version recently. Fun to fly and good systems, but it's quite old and you see that at the VC. It's also still relatively expensive and might be too much longhaul plane for what you've been looking for.

edit: +1 for FSW's Learjet 35A as mentioned.