I mostly fly GA but dabble in just about anything except the airliners(RJ or commercial TP maybe if we get some). Nearly 200 hours in and some I’ve only flown once.
I find a lot of the default aircraft are somewhat bland and some like the PC6 are absolutely miserable.
But the gems for me:
-C152, not my favorite but it is an EXCELLENT aircraft
-C172 Steam. I don’t mind the glass version, but why bother? I am sucker for floats. Just a great all around model, you’ll find yourself always begging for just a little more climb ability and just a little more cruise speed all the time, just like a real one.
-Bonanza, just a great get-er-done flyer that does nothing wrong and feels like a real plane doing real plane stuff. (I’m sure I’ll love the Baron but only ran her around the block a few times)
-X/NXCUB all versions. Kind of hated it at first but got used to the look of the panel and it’s habits. Just seemed so strange being so overpowered but explored more of the envelope over time and it’s just darn good. Don’t see much need for any other cloth tail dragger. I spend more and more time in mountains and island hopping.
-Shock Ultra, didn’t even bother until recently and what a blast of a goofball gonzo plane. Great for flying 6’ off the water in the grand canyon on floats and randomly picking small sandy spots to plop it onto without having to make any plan in advance to get there. Also pretty capable of doing some pretty stupid stuff as long as you keep it under 95. Great water handling on floats. Plus look behind you at all those pulleys!
-ICON A5, another water-centric plane but holy cow its fun, and the effects on the water under 50KN are outstanding and believable. And a cockpit that basically makes it a water tesla. If only it could cruise at 135+
-Cirrus SR22, not necessarily a great plane in any regard, and more than a bit boring to fly, but it’s great for when you need a boring predictable plane when you don’t want a lot of workload doing it.
The Diamonds are all equally boring but none have a flight envelope I don’t already have a favorite for. But decent if you want to learn managing avionics/cockpit mechanics in planes the nearly fly themselves so you’ll be ready for more complex flight models.
A lot of other GA also-rans that are utterly forgettable.
Don’t care for any of the other ‘Euro’ plastic planes.
The CAP is not bad either for barnstorming and gets great frame rates although not a big fan of the metric instruments, the Extra and Pitts are decent, but I just don’t have time to fly them as they tend to be for staying in the same spot.
I used to like the Caravan for an all purpose cruiser, even if modeled way too simplistic(the concept essentially), then the Kodiak happened, bye Felicia. Big miss not putting it on floats again for 2020.
**Three I want to be great but don’t have any real time in:
CR4, KA 350, TBM(allthough so much glass!)and the G58 when I get around to them.
And another call out for the absolute horror show that is the PC6. Wish we had a folder where we could save favorites so I don’t even have to look at half of these aircraft.
If you’re a GA piston guy, the Deluxe version is worth it just for the 172 steam and the Premium Deluxe just for that and Shock. You’d pay more just to get those two third party anyway. If I were a third party developer, the last thing I would try to model would be something that fits the NX and Shocks’ envelopes/missions, work on a DASH and make yourself useful.
