As the title suggests I am looking for the most realistic GA aircraft to purchase. Any ideas welcome.
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Justflight PA28
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I hear the Milviz 310R is pretty good too.
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The 414 also belongs in this category. Still WIP (beta), but really getting there.
And the Kodiak 100.
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Milviz 310R
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Milviz Cessna 310
and I still love my Mooney
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Actually, one would need to more clearly define ‘most realistic’. If you’re looking at graphics, the Mooney is really nice. If flight model is the primary criterion, the Mooney isn’t that great.
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Probably the C310. Haven’t flown any of the Pipers for ages. They are also great but this one is superb.
I also love the Sting S4 but it depends if you are in a hurry to get anywhere.
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For me it’s
MilViz 310
Kodiak
Da62 with the mod
And surprisingly the Carenado Mooney. I think that’s the plane I fly the most and I like it.
I used to like the Pa28 line initially but they seemed to change the flight carasteristics with a later update. The yaw of the plane gets uncontrollable at low speeds so landing this plane is really now fun anymore.
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All these are really nice and offer something different across the range. It really depends on what you want to do as to which one you may choose. Personally I like the Kodiak more than the others presently but I do like to spend time in different types.
SWS Kodiak
FSW Cessna 414
Milviz Cessna 310
JF Piper Arrows
DA-62 with mod
Cessna 208 with mod
Even the default Baron and Bonanza are not bad.
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I would argue that the Kodiak is hardly a GA plane 
As is the Cessna 208. Both are higher capacity turboprop planes. No-one is using them as personal transport.
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It’s the flight model
I don’t have it (I only buy planes with sticks) but It’s probably the Milviz 310.
There are only two aircraft with wear and tear tracking and I find that to be important as it encourages realistic behaviour. The other of which is Sting S4, which is nice enough but I don’t find it as impeccable as the Milviz Porter and the 310 is supposed to be comparatively even more realistic by all accounts.
You beat me to it. It’s not a GA plane. Also true for Porter and arguably Cessna 414 too.
JF PA-28s and the DA-62 mod are both aircraft a CFII / MEI friend swears by. The 310 is nice but the only guy I know who’s flown a real one hasn’t flown the MFS one, so I couldn’t rate it properly. All the mods for the default aircraft are worth checking out anyway.
You could possibly throw the JF Hawk in the GA bucket 
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To me,
TBM930 WTT G3000 (free) and PA34 Seneca V but post above my really recommend best probably.
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The term GA doesn’t mean it needs to be for personal use. There are plenty of turbo props that are GA.
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Yes, like the Pilatus or the TBM. I don’t believe I ever said that turboprops are not GA? They keyword was high capacity (> 10 persons)
General aviation is defined by the ICAO as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other purposes. However, for statistical purposes ICAO uses a definition of general aviation which includes aerial work.
General aviation thus represents the private transport and recreational components of aviation.
So it kinda does. But you’re right. It does allow for commercial (small scale) activities.
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I know a guy wich have bought a PC-6 full IFR equiped, weather radar, A34 turbine, etc… for his personal use. He use it often to fly from east of France to Corsica for week-ends or holydays.
Fortunately from time to time he also take skydivers friends on board…
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Tough question. Until very recently I would have went with Just Flight’s PA28 Turbo Arrow. But lately I’ve really been liking FlySimWare’s Cessna 414 Chancellor. It’s still in beta and has a few bugs, but it’s such a fun aircraft to fly.
Regarding the Carenado Mooney, it is indeed quite nice, but unfortunately Carenado have no interest in updating it, and it regularly gets broken with sim updates. And it has an annoying bug that when someone else is flying it in reasonably close proximity, regardless of what plane you’re flying, you will hear Carenado engines while in your Cockpit. It’s the same with the StaggerWing. Carenado don’t care. In fact they won’t even acknowledge that this bug exists. I’ll never buy another Carenado aircraft again.
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That’s the wiki definition. I’d argue more Kodiaks are being used in GA than for regular airline operations. I’ve never really thought seriously about the dividing line before but to me GA is almost everything civil that’s not doing airline duty.
AOPA says
GA is all civilian flying except scheduled passenger airline service.
More than 90% of the roughly 220,000 civil aircraft registered in the US are GA aircraft.
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