TraineeHi,
Many fs2004 enthusiasts I encounter in forums like these and in flight sim related news groups seem to favor the business class and commercial airline jets. I, however, have always been partial to small prop planes...especially of the single engine variety. I've often referred to myself as a "simulated bush pilot". This refers not only to the types of terrain I like to fly out of, over, and into, but also to the types of planes commonly used for this type of flying.
In my never ending quest to find interesting and fun add-on small prop planes, I've come upon a particularly nice little plane, and I'd like to encourage you to give it a try (yes...even you "big bus" drivers out there!). 😉
Today's happy addition to my hangar has been the American Champion "Super Decathlon 8KCAB" for fs2004, by RealAir Simulations.
http://www.realairsimulations.com/
This little plane is often used as an aerobatic trainer, and RealAir has once again, in their tradition of creating very accurate flight dynamic models, offered those who enjoy true "hands on" flying a real treat!
A well known "real life" aerobatic performer and instructor I have the pleasure of corresponding with now and then highly recommends this plane as being very accurately modeled for fs2004. He even says that "side slipping" and spins have been very accurately modeled into this plane. If he says RealAir "got it right", I'm happy to take his word on it.
Many of you - I hope! - do already have the freeware enhancement of the fs2004 default Cessna 172SP by RealAir Simulations. If you don't have this enhancement of the C172's flight dynamics, sounds, and graphics, I urge you to do yourself a favor and go get it. It's free, after all! Okay...back to the Super Decathlon...
As I said...The Super Decathlon is for those who enjoy a truly "hands on" simulated flying experience. As part of this very accurate model, there's no auto-pilot, and the plane does not have flaps. It's controlled with a stick in "real life", so this has given me the opportunity to put my long neglected joystick back to work. Everything in the Virtual Cockpit is "clickable", so you can perform all tasks from starting up the "cold" plane, to flying, to shutting everything down from the VC. RealAir recommends always flying this plane from the VC.
A small note on the VC:
I prefer flying most of my planes from the VC, but the VC view in several planes tends to "cut off" some of the visible gauges. I've tweaked one setting in my "FLTSIM.FLT" file to the following value:
VirtualZoom=000.83
"FLTSIM.FLT" is found here:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\FS9\Flights\Other\FLTSIM.FLT
The "000.83" VC zoom setting puts most of my "default" VC views in a comfortable position, where I can not only see all the essential gauges well, but in many cases, this also puts my "eye point" back far enough so that I can get at least some feeling of "fake peripheral vision" out the side window.
The Super Decathlon is a small, light, two seater (front and rear, not side by side), with wonderful visibility in all directions. The fact that this is a taildragger with no flaps means that ground handling, takeoffs, and especially landing must be performed with an accurate touch in order to not damage the plane by crunching the wings into the ground, or landing too heavily on the gear. Even though we all like to just jump right into our new planes and take them for a spin as soon as we get them, I do recommend reading the included documentation to get the most out of flying this beauty. It's a fairly "simple" plane to fly with regards to instrumention and such, but it can take a bit of practice to really fly it well. Approaches and landings are lots of fun with it as well; though to consistently land it with grace requires some practice.
Flying this plane in the simulator feels, I imagine, just about as close to "seat of the pants" flying as any plane in this PC based simulator can. It's truly a fun plane to fly in the sim! 😀 Oh...and this plane also comes with smoke effects, so if you want that, just press the "i" key. The smoke effect is especially nice if you use it in "spot view" as you watch a replay of your aerobatic maneuvers.
Until I got the RealAir Simulations version of this plane, I've been enjoying the freeware "Super Decathlon" from "FlightFactory/Airhead":
http://www.flightfactory-simulations.com/Previews/decathlon_previews.php
I now consider the "Airhead Super Decathlon" a nice primer for the simulated pilot interested in the SD, but I can now see that its flight dynamics are much more forgiving than the "real thing" might be. If you really want "as real as it gets", I do highly recommend the RealAir version.
So...can you tell that I really, really like this shiny new Super Decathlon of mine? 😀 If you already enjoy "seat of the pants" flying, or even if you're a jaded simulated airline pilot, give this little wonder a try!
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Chief Captain
Sad but true 🤔 I remember the good old days when nearly all add ons for fs were free 
First Officer
