Can we not get any GA airplane without GNS 530/430?

You are asking why almost all aircraft have GPS in them. As I (snarkly) and others have pointed out, that is just the direction aviation is going these days.

Maybe I wasn’t clear before, My bad. I am looking for aircraft to do ‘real’ instrument flying, (without GPS but no luck)
These are the options I have, maybe you get my point:

  • C172 CLASSIC (HAS GNS 530/430)

  • C152

  • C152 AEROBAT

  • ROBIN 400

  • DA40 TDI (HAS GNS 430)

  • DV20 (HAS GNS 430)
    These are the only stock options.

I got these additionally

  • C172 CLASSIC TAILDRAGGER BY BOGULU (HAS GNS 530/430)~~3rd party from flightsim.to
  • PA34 BY CARENADO (HAS GNS 530/430)~~bought separately
  • PA28 BY JF~~bought separately

What’s wrong with the C152 then?

PMDGs DC-6 can be configured with no GPS.

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There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just that it’s the only one. And cross country instrument flights are really slow.

you forget the savage cub.

savage cub does not have vor/ILS

You can fly IFR in actual IMC in the Cessna 152 (I’ve done it on VATSIM a number of times), the 152 mod adds a DME (not that you 100% need it, ILS approaches where you twist the OBS on the second CDI to VOR radials is quite fun). I mean sure it’s slow but it’s it’s still fun. Note that many aircraft in MSFS are rather new, seems manufacturers want their latest and greatest out there. Honestly if it wasn’t for the training I don’t feel the 152 would have been added. The 172 is a good trainer but the 152 makes for better lore I guess. Textron Aviation doesn’t want to have some 30+ year old Skyhawk in MSFS, it doesn’t do them any good with marketing. Let’s say a really old Skyhawk was added, more than likely it would have a GPS, ground based navigation is simply becoming a thing of the past. MSFS is a 10 year project is it not? VORs are being decommissioned and there are so many GPS approaches out there now. It would only be a matter of time before a non-GPS equipped Skyhawk would be useless for IFR. Also remember this, there hasn’t been a 172 off the line in over 10 years without a G1000.

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The Piaggio P149 definitely has no GPS whatsoever.

Though it only has one Nav radio and the frequency are old school 25khz.

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Thanks for sharing. Added this to my Wishlist!

I didn’t know MSFS is a 10 year project.

I also love to fly on radios only. Nothing is more rewarding as navigating on two ADFs.

That said we urgently need an addon that gives us back those VORs and NDBs as they existed 20 to 40 years ago.

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Don’t get me wrong, I too like navigating the old fashioned way of twisting OBS knobs to fly radials off VORs for airways, using a DME (extra fun when you don’t use a DME), a stopwatch, ect and it’s very rewarding as anyone can fly a magenta line but sadly these are becoming a thing of the past and usability of aircraft addons is important much more so when you fly on online networks. Less people are inclined to buy an addon if it doesn’t have a GPS of some sort. Two reasons, it’s much easier to navigate this way (quite intuitive) and it’s aviation these days. Later on nothing is going to stop you from flying under VFR without a GPS but IFR is another story. Yesterday and today I flew NDB approaches as a /A on VATSIM and yesterday the controller seemed a bit surprised and I couldn’t help but laugh.

I have to assume because, at least at launch, 1) the default GPS is extraordinarily simplified, and, further, didn’t act like real-world units should (e.g. curvy flightpaths), and b) they could add it to every aircraft easily & without having to customize a panel.

This also partly explains why we pay more for planes with steam gauges.

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My theory on why the steam gauge 172 isn’t in the Standard Edition is because of how long it’s been since a 172 rolled out without one. In retrospect look at FSX (2006), the G1000 wasn’t offered in the Standard. The G1000 was still pretty new, now you can find them everywhere.

I don’t recall and I currently don’t have access to my FS machine. Is the panel.cfg encrypted?

If not would it be possiable to disable the GNS 530/430 screens if you have another way to control the radios like the Logitech radio panel for the steam gauge 172?

I don’t think so, as nav radios are built into 530/430, so if they are off, whole nav systems will be off and VOR will not respond even if you control the radios from logitech radio panel.

And I don’t think switching off 530/430 is at all possible without switching off avionics master. Some people did suggest above that turning the volume knob can switch it off, but I couldn’t do it.

Do mind your language, do you really thing following that magenta line is rewarding for you?

Im going to have to give it a try as I though turning the panel off in the .cfg file just disabled the screen not actually turned off the functionally of the device. I know that was a performance tweak in the CRJ.