I think you would agree that a flight simulator has to be extremely realistic and has to suck you right into the pilots seat. You don’t want to feel like you are sitting at your desk. You should feel like you are sitting in the plane. That is why we fly flight simulators. For the experience and realistic training. At least this is why I fly a flight sim.
To get the most realistic flight possible, you need to have a great flight sim like X-Plane 11 (Amazon.com affiliate link). You also need to have a great plane. Well, lucky for anyone that has X-Plane 11, it comes with a great set of planes that are well designed. Now, as great as the X-Plane 11 aircraft are, there are things that they don’t have that just add that extra bit of realism. This is where the payware aircraft comes in.
Now today, I am going to be talking about my two most recent purchases. Both of these are Cessna 172, however they act and look different. Now I chose these two aircraft because they are more advanced, have training functionality and in general handle like the real thing.
1. Airfoillabs Cessna 172
The first is an all in one solution. This is the Airfoillabs Cessna 172 (link to X-Plane.org). At the time of writing, this is the more expensive aircraft, however it is well worth the cost, as they didn’t leave anything out. Every sound in this plane is unique and realistic. When you brake, you hear a slight squeak, the engine sputters if you don’t warm up the plane and so much more. It is truly an amazing plane to fly it.
If you want more information, take a look at my YouTube Video on the Airfoillabs Cessna 172.
Realism
When you fly this, you feel like you are actually in the cockpit of a Cessna 172. It is a very immersive experience. Especially if you are running a VR setup with the Oculus Rift (Amazon.com Affiliate Link). The flight characteristics appear bang on, as well as the ground characteristics.
Please note that I include a few affiliate links in my posts. If you use my link and make a purchase, I will get a small commission that will help me to keep producing great information. These links will not affect your purchase or price in anyway. You do not need to use the links, but I appreciate it if you do.
As I mentioned above, when you start the plane, you need to let it warm up sufficiently as the plane will sputter and can cause damage or fouling if you do not fly this plane properly. This damage gets logged in maintenance for the plane. Fortunately it is very easy to repair your plane, however if you were to continue flying and ignore the damage caused by different events, you may end up with a failure in flight or on a landing.
The sounds from the plane was one area that really impressed me as every switch and item in the plane has a unique sound. The engine has a realistic sound as well as the wind is dynamic. So when you end up in a slip or it is windy outside you will actually hear the wind whipping past your plane.
Walk around
So with this plane you actually get to do a complete walk around. You can add the pitot tube cover, chock the tires, tie down the plane, check fuel at the wing, check flight surfaces and essentially do everything that you would do if you were doing a walk around.
Now I fly this plane in VR, however the walk arounds do not cooperate with me in VR. When I do the walk arounds I usually disable VR, complete the walk around and then engage VR once again in order to fly. (I did notice that a new version of airfoillabs Cessna 172 is coming out for VR, so this might fix the problem all together).
The look of the Airfoillabs Cessna 172… well you can be the judge, but I think it looks pretty amazing. Take a look at the first photo of this post to see what it looks like.
FPS
Here is one problem that I have noticed and others have mentioned in forums that I have read. It can have a negative effect on FPS. Some have claimed that it is a significant effect on the FPS, however I have only noticed a minor effect on my FPS (most often… no effect). Most of my flight time lately is in VR, and I am able to run this plane at a steady 45 FPS, which is what I want. I also run the stock Cessna 172 at 45 FPS (in VR).
The only time I have noticed the difference is when I am in a very scenery heavy airport. As I am running the 1060 6GB graphics card on VR and not a 1080Ti, this could be the reason for my slight FPS loss. Again… I have rarely noticed the difference and doubt you would either.
2. Reality Expansion Pack
This is the Reality Expansion Pack, which is made by Simcoders.com. Now simcoders went about making this aircraft in a different way. As the title says, it is less of a payware aircraft and more of an Expansion Pack. This essentially builds on the current Cessna 172 that is built into X-Plane. It does not change the look of the default Cessna 172. This is not really a problem, as the default Cessna 172 looks great right out of the box. I would say it is not quite as nice as the Airfoillabs Cessna for this, however it does have some neat other functions that airfoillabs does not.
Realism
So in this case Simcoders added to the realism of the flight by improving the way the Cessna flies. They improved upon the flight model that is stock with X-Plane 11. It appears to be very realistic when flying.
One really neat part of the REP (Reality Expansion Pack) is that the plane has a memory of everything. What I mean by this is that it keeps track of all of your maintenance (similar to Airfoillabs), however the big difference is that it even keeps track of the aircraft temperature and aircraft state when you finish flying. So when you finish a flight and load up 5 minutes later, your aircraft will not be cold. In Airfoillabs, the aircraft always starts cold. It is kinda a unique concept, as your plane is left in the state you left it. For example, if you leave the master on with a light running, it will run down your battery. This won’t happen instantly. For example, if you had stopped your plane, shut down X-Plane and came back to your plane the next day, you will have to go to your maintenance to re-charge your battery or your plane won’t start.
This really helps to keep you flying with proper procedures. So when you go to fly a real plane, you won’t have any bad habits built in from the flight sim.
Walk Around
So Simcoders also does a walk around for the aircraft. It works a bit differently as it moves your view around for you. It is also the default Cessna 172, so you don’t end up getting moving parts, such as removing the cap on the wing for checking the fuel. This is not a deal breaker for me.
FPS
The FPS doesn’t take any type of hit as it is essentially running as if it was the stock Cessna 172. So whatever you are getting with the stock aircraft should be the same with this aircraft.
Summary
So would I recommend getting the Airfoillabs or REP. Well, they are two great options. For me it was such a hard choice, that I had to try them both. I currently fly both of them, as I like different features on each aircraft.
The feel and look of the Airfoillabs aircraft is my favorite, however the aircraft memory and maintenance features in the REP appears to work better.
The other benefit to the REP aircraft, is that the checklist and maintenance documents for this aircraft can be displayed in VR. This will probably improve on the Airfoillabs aircraft when they come out with the VR model. As you can probably tell, I will be getting that new aircraft as soon as it is released from Airfoillabs.
The last thing I will say, is that the REP is a much cheaper option that will give you the realism that you need. So if money is an obstacle and you want a great plane for the money, REP is probably your plane. If you want a complete overhaul on your plane, then you probably want to go with Airfoillabs.
Now the last thing I want to mention is that, a realistic plane is one thing, however if you want to get the most out of a realistic aircraft like this, then you need some training from a real flight instructor. The flight instructor I recommend is Rod Machado. Rod is an amazing flight instructor with 10,000 hours of flight. He is also the voice for FSX, so you may even recognize his voice if you have been flight simming for awhile. I will say, that the link is an affiliate link, however I only promote products that I believe in and this is definitely one I believe in.
Links to Both Aircraft
Reality Expansion Pack from Sim Coders
http://store.x-plane.org/Reality-Expansion-Pack-for-Laminar-Cessna-172SP_p_670.html
Airfoillabs Cessna 172
http://store.x-plane.org/Cessna-172SP-Skyhawk_p_401.html
If you love my content and want to start flying in VR, please check out some of my other pages.
Top 5 things you need for VR Flight
7 things you should know before flying in VR
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Thanks for reading,
Dan
Awesome