Best bush plane?

That’s give me an idea: The $1000 hiking routes book!

This is such a hard question to answer, because it is such a subjective thing. For some of us poor sounds are enough to completely condemn a plane. For others, it’s a minimal to non-issue.

I tend to fall in the latter camp, not because I don’t care, but because I use the “Headphone Simulation”. While I love the sound of engines (I’m an ex-vintage Italian sports/racing car engine builder, who ran them on the dynamometer), I don’t want to listen to them droning on for several hours while I fly. That exhausts me.

In the case of this plane, specifically, I like how it sounds as it starts, but during curse I’m not hearing it enough to have an opinion.

They are pretty good, but there is a pretty recognizable sound loop. The engine RPM seem to very slowly rise during the recorded sound snippet and you can clearly hear it drop to the lower frequency when it starts from the top again. If you like I can do a little sound demo video tomorrow.

Ah that issomething i would totally ocd about haha.

Sure if it is not too much trouble.

Here you go. I added chapters for convenience.

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Wow, thank you very much for your effort, it is highly apreciated. I can easily live with those sounds.
Thank you once again.
Was looking at the Beech or 195 but now this is a serious contender too. Seems it is between the Beech and this one now as the 195 seems to behave more like a Cub.
May make it a good bushplane for this topic though.

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You’re welcome! Overall the soundset is one of the better ones, I think. Flies pretty well as well and of course looks fantastic in true Carenado fashion. Here is the tundra tire version in my Sedona video:

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What the heck, that is some amazing cinematic stuff right there. And now i wanna play RSR2 after that music haha.

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Loved the video and the 170B love.

Thanks for sharing that.

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I like this aircraft as well.

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The only proper 3rd party bush plane i have The Fox 2 (single plane version). @Jigsaw407 What is the cruise speed of the 170b?
Looks it is about as slow as the Fox2?



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about 100 kn

I was very busy this week so I saw your vid only yet.
Okay you win the point.
Even if from my point of view it is not a real bush plane, I have to admit that it can do it.
Poor passengers ! :frowning_face:

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I would argue that it’s more of a bush plane than many suggestions here. I associate a certain utility with bush planes, the ability to transport a good amount of cargo to remote areas. That is something that an Islander can do, but a Kitfox not so much. :wink:

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Personally, I don’t really want to keep this discussion going - I think it ultimately comes down to what exactly your expectations of a “bush plane” are. It’s not an official term, anyway.

There’s definitely some good points to be made against the Islander, e.g. lack of a float option or skis or even tundra wheels, if I’m not mistaken, and i think it ultimately comes down to what OP wants what’s the best bush plane for them.

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Zenith stol best bush plane. Great flying plane and the visibility is good.

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This is where we differ.
For me the most important thing is not the utility but the freedom to fly around and land/take off where and when you want with a light aircraft.
The advantage of the simulator is to be able to test for free or for cheap in order to choose what he prefers (or to choose everything).

When you like the Fox, I think you would like the 170b as well.
It’s a bit more challenging.
The landings have to be spot on! Propper 3-point touchdown, otherwise she will jump 1, 2 ,3 times.
But this is accurate! No springs and dampers in the wheel struts just bare metal :wink: :+1:

If you’re a Fox guy, you would like the Zenith more. I think you’re going to struggle with the visibility on the 170b coming from the Fox. Zenith visibility is fantastic right out the box just like the Fox.

Although i admit, the sounds on the 170b are some of the best i’ve heard in a bush plane and that’s what makes it more excellent.

Low speed behavior on the 170 is amazing, it can float almost like a Helicopter if you got your speeds right, but it’s different than the Fox. Zenith is closer to the Fox in that regard and all around better in my opinion. There’s really nothing the Zenith can’t do, the ultimate definition of a bush plane in my opinion.

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Oh i am sure. However i can only cruise at 90-100 kts for so long. I generally do world trips and my planes preferable go around the 130-170kts range or those 100nm legs with no airports in between get really slow.

As for the Zenith i take it is quite pitch twitchy which he reminds me of the Kodiak, a plane i do not enjoy handflying because of it.