They should have watched this …
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Love watching WWII training videos, they are fantastic!
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Here is a better view of the same accident, both from the outside and the frontseat:
I’ve heard two stories, about the accident. The first, that the passengers had his feet on the brakes and the second, that the pilot had different/heavier shoes on and didn’t realise he was pressing down on the pedals. I think the first story is much more plausible.
Here is a good video of what a ground loop can look like with a Stearman:
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The February 2024 Chart Results
So the second update since the RESET and I think things are starting to take a more interesting shape now. I look forward to some discussion around your thoughts to how this is going!
==== 2024’s TOP 25 ====
==== THIS MONTHS TOP 25 ====
==== COMPLETE CHARTS PDF PACK ====
Want to see more awesome aircraft?
You can download the entire Charts Pack as a PDF here. This file includes the main All-Time Chart and a page for every month listing all votes, so you can see aircraft that fall outside of the Top 25 above.
Download the PDF here:
===== FREEWARE CHARTS =====
Don’t forget you can also now vote and see a separate list of FREEWARE ONLY AIRCRAFT here:
…if you have not yet voted there, please go ahead and add your favourite in this topic!
====== MY SUMMARY ======
A pretty strong entry for the new COWS DA42. The Comanche was by far the highest voted this month (most ever I believe) and the Tiger Moth, AN-2 and CJ4 showed up into the overall Top 25 again. Thanks for all the Votes and Re-votes folks (33 new voters in 2024 this month) 
There were 5 new Aircraft mentioned this month:
| Developer | Aircraft |
|---|---|
| COWS | Diamond DA42 |
| Golden Age Simulations | Boeing Stearman Model 75 (PT-17 / PT-13) |
| CJ Simulations | Dassault Rafale |
| Microsoft | Ornithopter (Dune Expansion DLC) |
| AzurPoly | Bede BD-5J |
FINAL NOTE: The next Chart Update will be done on 31st March as that is ACTUALLY the final day of the month this time.
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Thanks again for all your hard work with this. It’s invaluable.
One little, teensy-weensy (probably completely irrelevant) thing…
CJ Simulations had to change the name of the Dassault Rafale to ‘R-FAL.’ That’s how you will find it in the Marketplace now.
Dassault apparently threatened them with legal action if they continued using ‘Rafale.’ 
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Given that any Military fast jets you see in multiplayer are invariably flown by 12 year olds who tend to ignore all aviation regulations, fly from Civilian airports, buzz people and fly like they are in an airshow - not surprising they did not want their name associated with MSFS .
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OK.
Will Boeing threaten to sue Bluebird Simulations and anyone else who develops a 757 and 767? After all, it was those planes on that infamous day in 2001.
Might not those same 12 year-olds do something stupid with those pretend aircraft?
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I can change it for next time if you think I should. However there are lots of other aircraft listed that are not officially called by the manufacturer name, but I add that as it makes it easier to know what is what.
Love this topic. Thank you for organizing it all
My list for March includes some larger changes:
- Analog King Air - it’s not the highest fidelity plane on the field anymore, but it’s just the right package. Great cozy vintage atmosphere, very stable and natural during hand flying, failures, and workflows that are just fun to do, with the exact right amount of complexity. Plus, it can go high and fast or low and slow, and both make sense and feel natural for it.
- Justflight Bae 146 - It has it all. Great model and sounds, cozy immersive cockpit, state saving, failures, good EFB, a lot of custom unique systems, great callouts, and PA announcements. Plus I love how it looks, and you can fly it realistically both into big city centers, as well as into challenging gravel runways in Canada and Africa.
- A2A Commanche - It’s great, even if cylinder 2 hates me for some reason.
- C310 - A little bit less fidelity than in the A2A, but cooler sounds, looks and better anti-ice, plus VS capability for more complicated approaches.
- Hondajet - It’s the micro-airliner that I fly when I want to fly GA, but would like to use a full simbrief plan and follow 100% of the procedures. I wish my PMDG 737 would descend as precisely as the Honda. No *DRAG REQUIRED spam here.
- PMDG 737 - It’s just a good airliner. Not a fan of the simplistic engine behavior, but love the included ground handling with simulated loading and boarding, plus that there are so many equipment options. Every time I select a plane from a different airline I get a cockpit that is a little bit different. Fascinating! And makes you want to fly all over the world.
- An2 - This could easily be full priced payware. It’s just unique, immersive and wonderful. Just try to fly in a place with NDBs
- Wilga - I’m not flying much in the bush, but when I do, I fly the Wilga. And it’s just perfect for it. Flying it is the perfect therapy for people who normally just realistically fly from A to B. This shows you that you can do totally amazing crazy things, and for the most part it will be still realistic. Just a totally different way of flying.
- Asobo/Blacksquare Beaver - still one of the best planes for hand flying. Just an all round good plane.
- SWS PC-12 - Nice cockpit, good turboprop simulation and interesting unique fly model. But for now I’m flying it less and less. There are just so many unique, great planes, that it’s hard to win by just being good. But hopefully that’s just the beginning.
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It was the ‘Rafale’ name for the CJS fighter that Dassault had a problem with.
They have no say about ‘Rafale’ being used in the BlueMesh Caudron C.430 Rafale.
I don’t think they’ll sue you for using ‘Dasault Rafale’ to refer to it here. But R-FAL is the name CJS uses in the sim now.
Thanks!
Which variant? I put -800 for now.
My top 1 aircraft, again, is the Blackbird / Milviz Cessna 310R
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Long time reader, first time contributor. Thanks @Baracus250 for the efforts maintaining this.
No particular order:
- A2A Comanche 250
- FlyInside Bell 47G-2
- Flying Iron Bf109G-6
- Big Radials JRF-6B Goose
- Blackbird FG-1D Corsair
- GotFriends F4F-4 Wildcat
- Carenado 182II RG
- Carenado Archer II
- Denarq Beech 18
- Duckworks DC-3
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Pretty much the coldest cylinder.
IF that cylinder is playing up it suggests your oil weight is too heavy for the type of operations you are flying.
Try lighter weight winter grade oil.
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Interesting to see that the Comanche releasing on xbox has caused the number of votes to shoot up from 17 to 31.
Also that the Fenix is the only one in the top 10 that is still not available on xbox (and sadly probably never will be). If it was able to get the xbox votes it surely would be right near the top, where it deserves to be.
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Once the WASM issues were settled I transitioned over to Xbox because my PC was so slow.
And alas, I had to give up the Fenix Airbus and a couple other addons and mods. But I diligently waited for most planes to release on Marketplace so they would work on PC and Xbox.
And A2A moved to the top of my list once I could finally fly their plane.
The Xbox is a solid experience now. PC is better… but $3-500 instead of $3-5,000 makes it a LOT easier to budget add ons.
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Here are my top ten faves for March.
- A2A PA-24 Comanche
- COWS Diamond DA42
- Milviz C310R
- JustFlight Piper PA-28 Arrow III/IV
- JPL C152 Tail
- Black Square TBM 850
- WBSIM C172 Skyhawk
- Carenado Cessna C182RG
- Carenado Cessna C207
- SWS Kodiak
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I got both the Milviz 310R and the FSW Cessna 410W Chancellor a couple of weeks ago. Suffice it to say that both are going to be on my next Top 10.
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Current Top 10 for late Feb/early March 2024:
- Flight Replicas’ DH.83 Fox Moth
- Carenado Cessna 182RG
- Carenado Cessna 337 Skymaster
- CowanSim H125/AS350 v2 Squirrel/A-Star
- inibuilds P-40F Warhawk
- inibuilds/Asobo Bell 47J Ranger
- inibuilds ME-108 Taifun
- inibuilds/Asobo JN-4 Jenny
- Milviz/Blackbird FG-1 Corsair
- Flysimware Lear 35
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I haven’t updated the list for at least a couple of months. Here’s the new list, in no real order:
-
BF-109 (Flying Iron) - I find this the most challenging aircraft to fly. It’s thrilling when I get it right. I don’t fly it as often as I should, because if I did, I’d probably be good at it by now. It’s a rush to take off and land it without dying. It’s just so well done!
-
Spitfire Mk IX (Flying Iron) - just as much fun as the BF-109 but it is more manageable. An excellent aircraft!
-
Just Flight Hawk T1. It’s very hard to trim, and sometimes it just doesn’t fly right, but I love flying it.
-
Just Flight Piper Turbo Arrow III and IV. These are great! I’ve probably flown these more than any others over the past few months.
-
Carenado Piper Archer II. Speaking of great Piper aircraft, this one is fantastic too! I am a huge fan of Piper single engine aircraft.
-
Blackbird Cessna 310-R. I finally picked this up a couple weeks ago. It’s great to fly and I like wear and tear options.
-
Flying Iron Hellcat. I love it for all the reasons I love the other Flying Iron aircraft, AND I can land it on carriers too!
-
The H-jet. If I want something very modern, this is my ride.
-
Azure Poly TB-30 - this is an unusual choice, but I really like this aircraft. It’s simple and nimble and especially fun to land. Yes, fun is the right word! It has to be on this list!
-
Indiafoxtecho M-346 - I am becoming boring! Another military trainer? It’s a little more modern. I enjoy it. I just wish the engines sounded a bit better.
Here is the old list:
- Flying Iron BF-109 – this is the most difficult aircraft in my hanger. I really like that! It’s beautifully modelled, fast and very satisfying to try to master. It was a great purchase!
- Flying Iron Spitfire – it’s a similar experience to the BF-109, but somewhat more manageable. And it’s a Spitfire Mk IX! It’s fantastic fun!
- Flying Iron Hellcat – hmmm I am seeing a pattern. Who wouldn’t love to pilot a single seat aircraft powered by a 2000 hp radial engine? I can land it on a carrier too! Sure, in many minds it’s overshadowed by the Vought Corsair (which I don’t have yet), but I think it was an amazing accomplishment. Such a powerful aircraft in such a manageable form, and created in such a short time! It was perfect for the role it served. Now we need a Zero too!
- Indiafoxtecho M-346 – this is totally different from anything else in my hanger. It uses modern military avionics so it operates very differently from the usual Garmin systems. Sometimes the auto pilot doesn’t work as it should (maybe it’s me?) but I can forgive that. It has great views, great speed and great endurance too. There’s a lot to like here.
- Carenado Piper Archer II – a really nice simple GA aircraft. I especially like using it for VOR navigation.
- Carenado Beechcraft Bonanza V35 – the V tail! It’s fast and timelessly styled. I fly it a lot!
- DeHavilland Canada Beaver – a classic! I am so happy it’s in the sim.
- The H-jet – I’ve been flying it more often. It’s fast and smooth and as close to an airliner as I get.
- Carenado Cessna 170B – the old classic is great for a leisurely flight or a short bush trip.
- Flysimware Cessna 414W – a really nice plane. Great for a long cruise!
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