FSX Steam Edition: Discover USA Add-On DLC

This is simply a cool aircraft with about thirty preloaded flight plans that sequentially take you around the country. I'm about five flights in and so far they don't take you directly to any place of interest. For example, one stop is in Buffalo, about twenty miles from Niagara Falls, but no flight takes you over the falls so you'd have to know that it's nearby in order to deviate from the flight plan to see it. Also, all the flights are IFR by default so you'll have to constantly make those little adjustments that the Microsoft air-traffic controllers take you on, so I soon learned to modify the existing flight plan to be VFR using the GPS, then I just go on autopilot via that (with deviations around controlled airspace or to particular things that I want to see), switching to an IFR flight plan only if the weather becomes truly IFR. The Beech 18 is a sweet classic and I love the sound of those twin radials, though the tail-wheel lock doesn't work, nor does the tail wheel retract with the main gear--it and its doors just hang out there at the back. Also, there's limited documentation on the aircraft and none about the journey itself. Still, all-in-all it's a good product and I'm enjoying cruising around the country. Each leg so far is about 1.5 hours long which is long enough to feel that you accomplished something but not long enough to drag. If you buy this, I suggest you buy the book "I'll Take the 18" by Scott Gloodt which is an excellent memoir of his years flying Beech 18 freighters across the American midwest in the 70s and 80s. He's a good writer covering plenty of quirky characters and the challenges and joys experienced over many years of flying freight. But most of all his book is a pseudo love story between a man and a sometimes cantankerous and rough around the edges but rugged as hell piece of machinery that carried him safely through many challenging situations. He goes into some technical details and nuances of the aircraft which should be interesting in computer pilots who enjoy emulating real-world flying. Also go to http://ryardusa.com/beech_lesson_1.html to see a complete configuration table for this aircraft (recommended throttle and propeller settings for various phases of flight).

First, I LOVE the plane flies well but the one gripe I have is the tail wheel does not retract when you retract the wheels, other than that its a fun plane to fly

Its Pretty good for what ive seen its mostly textures But dont exepect to much but some little better mesh and textures and A plane as it is a huge country but its good I recommend it if you want a cheap ORBX North america

Even if not purchased on sale there is a lot of bang for the buck here and though just through 7 of the 68 flight plans offered I've had a lot of fun with this. The Beech 18 is fine, kind of flys like the DC-3, but I like the fact you can insert a plane from your own stable. Most of the destination airports I have never flown to so I'm getting a lot of experience with different configurations. Never had seen a turf-asphalt parallel runway configuration (Timmerman) and I missed my assigned 33L. I have scenery and airport DLC so I'm not sure if what I'm viewing is originating from the DLC or this item. Nevertheless it looks great. I'll buy a 68 filight plan unit plus one plane anytime. Do one for Europe or Central America, please.