At my home airport, in my training, I’m only flying a Diamond DA20 trainer, which I love to fly. But virtually, I like to fly aircraft that have similar real-world flight characteristics. These may not be accurate on paper, but they feel right while in the sim. . I’ve been flying many different aircraft, virtually, to find the most suitable one to practice in. If the flight characteristics feel right and it has a Garmin 430/530, it’s close enough.
I spend alot of time in the pattern at KUGN, as it’s the best way to practice airspeed & altitude control, stable approaches and coordinated flight. There are many things to focus on and all the while, speaking with the tower for instructions. The last time I flew we were sent in a number of 360’s and to extend our downwind due to incoming commercial jets.
It’s actually about twice as hard to fly virtually fly than in the real airplane, which has made me a better real-world pilot. My airspeed control has greatly improved due to working with my simulator and I’m much more comfortable now maintaining proper pattern altitude of 1500′ MSL at KUGN.
Here’s my first video on the blog (testing), of me flying a Glasair Super II RG, available here on X-plane.org one my favorites to fly in X-Plane. It’s a short sample from base to final, more of a test to see how easy it would be to import videos into WordPress. Hint: It was very easy. Although I didn’t realize till now that X-Plane doesn’t record sound for some dumb reason. Switching to OBS for next videos, it’s just more of a hassle.
The Glasair Super II RG is extremely maneuverable and fast, at 192 knots cruise. It’s like an acrobatic aircraft and not super stable. The Glasairs are so much fun to fly, with retractable landing gear, that I used it as an excuse to add a landing gear panel to my sim panel in the new design.
General characteristics
- Crew: one
- Capacity: one passenger
- Length: 20.8 ft (6.3 m)
- Wingspan: 23.3 ft (7.1 m)
- Wing area: 81.3 sq ft (7.55 m2)
- Airfoil: NASA GA(W)-2
- Empty weight: 1,400 lb (635 kg)
- Gross weight: 2,100 lb (953 kg)
- Fuel capacity: 70 U.S. gallons (260 L; 58 imp gal)
- Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming O-360 four cylinder, air-cooled, four stroke aircraft engine, 180 hp (130 kW)
- Propellers: 2-bladed constant speed propeller
Performance
- Cruise speed: 221 mph (356 km/h; 192 kn)
- Stall speed: 73 mph (117 km/h; 63 kn)
- Range: 1,749 mi; 2,815 km (1,520 nmi)
- Rate of climb: 2,700 ft/min (14 m/s)
- Wing loading: 25.8 lb/sq ft (126 kg/m2)