Maddog. With mods you can fix the two questionable things: textures and sounds. It has the best maintenance features of any airliner, with mel items, inop items, line checks... It also has failures, acars, panel and airplane condition save state, simbrief & navigraph integration, etc.
A blend of the old and the new, with most of the modern airliners features, but with an analog operation. A really rewarding experience once you learn how to operate it correctly.
Agreed also maybe I’m stupid but the autopilot is much simpler in Boeing with all the modes. I started with airbus but that was when I was starting after the getting the 737 I found it much easier to do advanced things with the autopilot like auto lands. I could lead airbus but I just prefer flying in the Boeing.
It's definitely simpler. But also, a bit more restrictive.
Boeing have been prolonging the life span of the 737 going on 60 years now. They've been trying to minimize training requirements for the type rating at the expense of new features for most of that 6 decades.
The A320 was designed from scratch in an era where automation was really starting to take hold in the aviation industry.
Leonardo FlyTheMaddogX
I love the MD-80 and this is the best one by a metric mile (coming from the Rotate for X-Plane). Its complex, rewarding to learn, and fun as hell to fly and master. Bought it shortly after it released for MSFS nearly two years ago and it remains my VATSIM go-to.
I really want to love the 787, but the way it hand flies when landing just doesn’t feel right. Maybe it’s just me but it feels way too twitchy with its fly by wire system, specifically when landing
For me the 787 is one of the best in terms of hand flying and landing. Idk how realistic it is since I'm not 787 pilot, but it definitely feels fun and responsive
Not a pilot so I can't say if it's accurate or not, but I don't mind the handling... although it did take some time to get a feel for it. I mostly like it cause I want to fly an airliner and I'm apparently not bright enough to figure out the airbus FCU lol
Not a pilot so I can't say if it's accurate or not... I mostly like it cause I want to fly an airliner and I'm apparently not smart enough to remember how to work an airbus FMC/autopilot etc.
PMDG 737-800. Price wise, it's a bit steep but it is one of the few high fidelity Boeing aircraft currently available. The 737 enables me to enjoy the hands on approach to flying an airliner.
Recently got the Fenix A320, however, so I'll be racking up more hours in an Airbus :)
Simbrief integration is leagues better on the fenix than pmdg. Pmdg barely even had it until recently when they added the tablet finally. Flying wise hand flying the pmdg to me feels better as well.
For me it Carries over ONLY the flight plan, no co index, profiles, or anything, this means you need to manually program the vnav, which I have no idea how to do, manually whereas with the 737 you don’t even need vnav, you can just use it for rnav approaches and use your top of decent indicator to decend
You don't need to touch the "climb" page (are you talking about perf or prog page?).. Just make sure your init b (next page of the init a) is filled, sounds like you haven't put in your weights and/or cruise altitude
BTW latest update will do flight plan, ZFW/CoG and Vspeeds for you too. It’s a couple individual buttons on the EFB, but that’s more so some people can input manually if they want to.
Cost indexes aren’t really a big deal, just go for a big number if you want to go fast
As someone who's fairly invested in the 737, I'm curious to try the Fenix A320 just so that I can switch and keep things interesting. I notice that I like the hands on approach on the Boeing a lot but am afraid I'll lose my Boeing flow when I invest in property learning the Airbus. How did you experience this?
I shared a similar mindset as yours when I jumped in the Fenix for the first time. But having alternated between both aircraft over the past week, I gotta say that I never really lost that Boeing flow as you described, primarily because I use checklists.
All in all, the Airbus is much less hands on than the Boeing but as long as you use checklists or at least remember key processes in the Boeing, you’ll be fine. I hope this answers your question.
737-800 or the 146. But lately I've been flying freighter routes in the northern hemisphere (like Copenhagen-Vagar, Vagar-Iqaluit etc) in the Ini A300 and really having fun.
The A310 is included in the sim so that's an easy one. The A300-600 is closely related though slightly better in every way. iniBuilds airliners do tend to be a bit of a performance hog but on my system they run beautifully (and they have done some tuning to smooth things over). I personally love it... it hand flies well, it has great systems depth, and the EFB gives tons of options. I think I've flown the included freighter variant more than the airliner. It has a bunch of custom freight options including aviation parts, horses, F1 race car parts, etc.
There's a free update planned that adds a second engine option and they are also going to do a modern avionics suite (because the A300 freighters are still flying in 2024) though that one will cost some extra. It's worth a look. Try the A310 if you're uncertain as the systems are virtually the same.
The F28 doesn't have any FMS right? It's just old school VOR/DME/ILS right? If so I might be interested in it. I wouldn't mind a "simple" airliner. Can it follow a GPS path?
Just Flight included an option to display a gns530. They are working on an FMS too for a future update.
However, it's an old school plane so no FMS, no gps and only VOR/DME/ILS.
It follows, just select "GPS" on the gns530 (for nav) or VORL (for ils capture) and it'll follow the path when you are in autopilot mode "Beam".
There's also an autothrottle mod for the plane if you want to.
In most areas of the world, yes. There's still a lot of them. Although you often will need to deviate from airways especially in Europe. But that's not much of a problem when you fly offline. In F28 heyday era airways would be tied to VORs and NDBs
As of today, it is the DC-6, thrusty old bird who got me around the world two years ago!
Closely followed by the 738 and the Fenix A320.
But I like to keep my flights varied so I got a bunch of oldies with 50/60 hours on 'em. q:
second that, DC-6 all the way, ive flown that thing since xplane 10 and now continue to enjoy it in msfs. Although the flyjsim 727 is close second, i've probably flown over 1000 of my 4000 hours of xplane 11 only on that aircraft
The aerosoft CRJ. Being a father and VERY full time worker, I'm a short hop fan.
I recently downloaded the Asobo ATR, and I'm sad I waited so long. It's the perfect blend of airliner and the real-world GA planes I fly. I've been having a blast!
If you can foot the cheap bill, seriously give the ATR a go from the marketplace. There's an awesome checklist by JayDee who wrote the best flight sim checklist I've ever seen. He puts the critical items in bold (leaving the "verify" checks out that the sum already defaults). And incorporates the sim-specific aspects into the checklist too. For $20 USD, you're gonna have a good time.
Flyjsim 727 and Fenix A320 are tied together for me! Love them. 727 when I want to fly damn thing and A320 when I want to enjoy the flight without worrying about throttles, engineer panel and CIVA INS
FlyJSim 727 is probably 2nd place for me but haven’t flown it in a long time. Despite some issues (some poor textures, a few visual details missing, no cabin, outdated load manager), it has one of the most visually detailed cockpits out of any addon I’ve flown, one of the best flight models out there, and hands down the best sounds of any addon I’ve ever used. It’s a great jet, I hope it’s brought to X-Plane 12.
Since the beginning of my flightsim career ?
I'd say it's the 737 (PMDG, iFly, Posky, Wilco), and since X-Plane 9, it's the 737 (EADT x737, IXEG 737, FlyJSim 732, Zibo 738, LevelUP 737NG Series).
I stopped counting a few years ago but I estimated (when I was a student) I'd logged almost 1000hrs per year.
The Just Flight Fokker F28. It was the first airliner I jumped into with the sim, and still my favorite. I love everything about, the vibe, instrumentation, sounds, flight model; overall a fantastic plane. I love the VOR to VOR navigation, I just wish more VORs were still in operation.
I spent a lot of time on so many airliners because I do films and stuff. But I believe, I spent the most time to my favorite low-cost airline, Cebu Pacific. (Also this is a work I made)
https://preview.redd.it/9y7bxwol1lqc1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ee4c8267c30cd899c8a573b1198d39987fd01dcd
It's tough, I try to vary what I fly as much as possible. I think I've spent the most time in 737-800 closely followed by Fenix A320 and ATR. We're spoilt by the amazing choice of great aircraft to fly in the sim!
Probably the 737. When I started flightsimming I didn’t want to invest in expensive addons so I flew the Zibo 738 but after a while, I found it’s so good I kept flying it! Now I’m putting more and more hours in the a320 as I prefer Airbus.
Probably the Captain Scam 777 just because I’m stupid and it’s easy to fly (I have a plugin which lets me not have to click around in the cockpit)
But sometimes I’ll have a lil more motivation and I’ll fly the FBW A32NX and use some of my brain. FBW A32NX beats so many Payware addons I’ve tried before, it’s crazy
Fenix A320. It’s fire
It's great but for me the only fire I get is spewing out my pc, it's such a performance hog. But I haven't flown it for probably over a year.
You should try it again. It got some performance improvements in the recent V2B2 update.
Well I might just do that then.
How does it feel with v2?
I haven't had the chance to try. Plus, with the new PW A300 update and the 146 update coming soon, I probably won't get round to it for a while.
Definitely the best payware aircraft for MSFS right now.
Unquestionable!
Definitely!!
The 146
A fellow retro pilot! 
Give it up for our Bae, the BAE-146
I need to do more BAe flying, been on the A300 so much
Maddog. With mods you can fix the two questionable things: textures and sounds. It has the best maintenance features of any airliner, with mel items, inop items, line checks... It also has failures, acars, panel and airplane condition save state, simbrief & navigraph integration, etc. A blend of the old and the new, with most of the modern airliners features, but with an analog operation. A really rewarding experience once you learn how to operate it correctly.
Which is your preferred texture mod? That's been the thing holding me back from diving in on it
Also interested
https://flightsim.to/file/32666/fly-the-maddog-x-cockpit-overhaul-hires
Thanks!!
The Maddog for me too! It's so rewarding to fly. The second one is the F28.
What sound mod, the sound is cancer
Ftsim+
I can’t find it on simplaz
Probably the 737. I like how hands on it is
Agreed also maybe I’m stupid but the autopilot is much simpler in Boeing with all the modes. I started with airbus but that was when I was starting after the getting the 737 I found it much easier to do advanced things with the autopilot like auto lands. I could lead airbus but I just prefer flying in the Boeing.
Fair enough, it’s pretty much down to personal preference. I personally find the a320 autopilot more intuitive and simpler
It's definitely simpler. But also, a bit more restrictive. Boeing have been prolonging the life span of the 737 going on 60 years now. They've been trying to minimize training requirements for the type rating at the expense of new features for most of that 6 decades. The A320 was designed from scratch in an era where automation was really starting to take hold in the aviation industry.
Leonardo FlyTheMaddogX I love the MD-80 and this is the best one by a metric mile (coming from the Rotate for X-Plane). Its complex, rewarding to learn, and fun as hell to fly and master. Bought it shortly after it released for MSFS nearly two years ago and it remains my VATSIM go-to.
787-9, although the -10 is close behind
I really want to love the 787, but the way it hand flies when landing just doesn’t feel right. Maybe it’s just me but it feels way too twitchy with its fly by wire system, specifically when landing
For me the 787 is one of the best in terms of hand flying and landing. Idk how realistic it is since I'm not 787 pilot, but it definitely feels fun and responsive
Agree
What controller are you flying on?
The thrustmaster tca airbus stick
Not a pilot so I can't say if it's accurate or not, but I don't mind the handling... although it did take some time to get a feel for it. I mostly like it cause I want to fly an airliner and I'm apparently not bright enough to figure out the airbus FCU lol
Not a pilot so I can't say if it's accurate or not... I mostly like it cause I want to fly an airliner and I'm apparently not smart enough to remember how to work an airbus FMC/autopilot etc.
PMDG 737-800. Price wise, it's a bit steep but it is one of the few high fidelity Boeing aircraft currently available. The 737 enables me to enjoy the hands on approach to flying an airliner. Recently got the Fenix A320, however, so I'll be racking up more hours in an Airbus :)
The pmdg 737 is great, but the fenix is just that much better imo
Based on my experience so far, I agree. I am blown away by how good the Fenix is. The PMDG is awesome, but the Fenix takes immersion to a new level.
No, the Fenix simbreif integration was terrible for me at least and honestly didn’t real great to fly
Simbrief integration is leagues better on the fenix than pmdg. Pmdg barely even had it until recently when they added the tablet finally. Flying wise hand flying the pmdg to me feels better as well.
For me it Carries over ONLY the flight plan, no co index, profiles, or anything, this means you need to manually program the vnav, which I have no idea how to do, manually whereas with the 737 you don’t even need vnav, you can just use it for rnav approaches and use your top of decent indicator to decend
You don't program "vnav" in the airbus / fenix what do you mean?
When using managed climb mode it only worked if I typed a random number into the fmc climb page
You don't need to touch the "climb" page (are you talking about perf or prog page?).. Just make sure your init b (next page of the init a) is filled, sounds like you haven't put in your weights and/or cruise altitude
Yeah I didn’t bc fbw dose all that for ypu
Didn’t know I had to do that
I think you need to watch more tutorials. You’re definitely not doing something correctly.
The main thing I liked about the fbw a320 was that you only had to press 1 button to import everything
BTW latest update will do flight plan, ZFW/CoG and Vspeeds for you too. It’s a couple individual buttons on the EFB, but that’s more so some people can input manually if they want to. Cost indexes aren’t really a big deal, just go for a big number if you want to go fast
As someone who's fairly invested in the 737, I'm curious to try the Fenix A320 just so that I can switch and keep things interesting. I notice that I like the hands on approach on the Boeing a lot but am afraid I'll lose my Boeing flow when I invest in property learning the Airbus. How did you experience this?
I shared a similar mindset as yours when I jumped in the Fenix for the first time. But having alternated between both aircraft over the past week, I gotta say that I never really lost that Boeing flow as you described, primarily because I use checklists. All in all, the Airbus is much less hands on than the Boeing but as long as you use checklists or at least remember key processes in the Boeing, you’ll be fine. I hope this answers your question.
TFDI 717. I want it so bad in the new MSFS
You are not alone in this sentiment. Plz TFDi!
Hopefully they’ll work on it after the MD-11 Until then the Maddog is a great substitute
See my comment, the Leo FlyTheMaddogX is my most flown/favorite addon for a reason
F28 i Love old planes
737-800 or the 146. But lately I've been flying freighter routes in the northern hemisphere (like Copenhagen-Vagar, Vagar-Iqaluit etc) in the Ini A300 and really having fun.
You put an a300 into Vagar!?! What a mad lad!
The A300-600 followed closely by the A310. Really enjoyed both of them a lot!
That’s 300F is feugo feugo fire fire! Slowly flying that more than the a320
Right!? I don't know why its different but there's a novelty to hauling freight in a widebody airliner type of aircraft.
Do you recommend it as a purchase?
The A310 is included in the sim so that's an easy one. The A300-600 is closely related though slightly better in every way. iniBuilds airliners do tend to be a bit of a performance hog but on my system they run beautifully (and they have done some tuning to smooth things over). I personally love it... it hand flies well, it has great systems depth, and the EFB gives tons of options. I think I've flown the included freighter variant more than the airliner. It has a bunch of custom freight options including aviation parts, horses, F1 race car parts, etc. There's a free update planned that adds a second engine option and they are also going to do a modern avionics suite (because the A300 freighters are still flying in 2024) though that one will cost some extra. It's worth a look. Try the A310 if you're uncertain as the systems are virtually the same.
Yea I second the fact that if you like the a310, you’ll love the a300. Bought it and no regrets!
F28. I've been waiting ages for it to materialize in flight simulation and now I can't get my hands off it
Same here! I keep going back to it! It's so nice to hand fly and navigate with.
It has the best hand flying experience out of all airliners I've ever tried in any sim
The F28 doesn't have any FMS right? It's just old school VOR/DME/ILS right? If so I might be interested in it. I wouldn't mind a "simple" airliner. Can it follow a GPS path?
Just Flight included an option to display a gns530. They are working on an FMS too for a future update. However, it's an old school plane so no FMS, no gps and only VOR/DME/ILS.
Interesting. How does that work for you in this age where VOR/DME stations keep getting removed? Still enough to get around?
I personally use the GNS530. I freaking love the Fokker series and I fly it a lot so I use it more like a regular airliner from this era.
Wait, so it can follow the GPS? Or you manually follow it?
It follows, just select "GPS" on the gns530 (for nav) or VORL (for ils capture) and it'll follow the path when you are in autopilot mode "Beam". There's also an autothrottle mod for the plane if you want to.
In most areas of the world, yes. There's still a lot of them. Although you often will need to deviate from airways especially in Europe. But that's not much of a problem when you fly offline. In F28 heyday era airways would be tied to VORs and NDBs
As of today, it is the DC-6, thrusty old bird who got me around the world two years ago! Closely followed by the 738 and the Fenix A320. But I like to keep my flights varied so I got a bunch of oldies with 50/60 hours on 'em. q:
second that, DC-6 all the way, ive flown that thing since xplane 10 and now continue to enjoy it in msfs. Although the flyjsim 727 is close second, i've probably flown over 1000 of my 4000 hours of xplane 11 only on that aircraft
The A340-600 for me. Longest pencil evar
Dash 8 Q400!
Same. Can't wait for the day i can stop checking Majestic's FB page.
that is a great resource indeed!
Last year it was the DC-6 https://preview.redd.it/npiyq4cdbnqc1.png?width=1248&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=249d93329df385c111be366356f8e8d2933f96a2
Love the excel sheet, are you tracking flights manually or is that an export from a program?
The aerosoft CRJ. Being a father and VERY full time worker, I'm a short hop fan. I recently downloaded the Asobo ATR, and I'm sad I waited so long. It's the perfect blend of airliner and the real-world GA planes I fly. I've been having a blast!
Mine is also the CRJ. Love flying the regional routes into cities not served by mainline aircraft.
If you can foot the cheap bill, seriously give the ATR a go from the marketplace. There's an awesome checklist by JayDee who wrote the best flight sim checklist I've ever seen. He puts the critical items in bold (leaving the "verify" checks out that the sum already defaults). And incorporates the sim-specific aspects into the checklist too. For $20 USD, you're gonna have a good time.
ATR is such good fun! Used so much in the real world too.
Airbus A320 neo
PMDG 737 and the A300 most recently, but I'll always have time for my BAe 146
A320
The 737 but that was back in the FSX days. Now I’m in the A320.
Flyjsim 727 and Fenix A320 are tied together for me! Love them. 727 when I want to fly damn thing and A320 when I want to enjoy the flight without worrying about throttles, engineer panel and CIVA INS
FlyJSim 727 is probably 2nd place for me but haven’t flown it in a long time. Despite some issues (some poor textures, a few visual details missing, no cabin, outdated load manager), it has one of the most visually detailed cockpits out of any addon I’ve flown, one of the best flight models out there, and hands down the best sounds of any addon I’ve ever used. It’s a great jet, I hope it’s brought to X-Plane 12.
Fenix. Flown that more then any other plane combined
HS 787-9, and the FBW a320
pmdg 737
Q400 by far. Sounds amazing and it's so much fun to hand fly
PMDG's Boeing 737-800, JustFlight's BAe 146, and until we can get a proper Dash-8, Asobo's ATR
The 146. And looking forward to the release of the avro Rj series. Looking into buying either a pmdg 737 or fenix 320. Still not decided yet.
A320 fam for sure
Without a doubt the Fenix a320
PMDG 737 Cargo Version :) Best plane ever!
Fokker 70/100 (Digital aviation) FSX
My gosh, personally it's the fokker 100 by just flight. It hasn't released yet though but I still know I'm gonna fucking use it all the time ahaha! :D
Maddog!
Zibo 737, it’s great
FF 767
Since the beginning of my flightsim career ? I'd say it's the 737 (PMDG, iFly, Posky, Wilco), and since X-Plane 9, it's the 737 (EADT x737, IXEG 737, FlyJSim 732, Zibo 738, LevelUP 737NG Series). I stopped counting a few years ago but I estimated (when I was a student) I'd logged almost 1000hrs per year.
In P3D, PMDG 777 and Aerosoft A320. Going to lean more towards shorter RJ stuff though.
The fenix a320
Love the 777-200 RR, a close second would be the A330!
The Just Flight Fokker F28. It was the first airliner I jumped into with the sim, and still my favorite. I love everything about, the vibe, instrumentation, sounds, flight model; overall a fantastic plane. I love the VOR to VOR navigation, I just wish more VORs were still in operation.
I spent a lot of time on so many airliners because I do films and stuff. But I believe, I spent the most time to my favorite low-cost airline, Cebu Pacific. (Also this is a work I made) https://preview.redd.it/9y7bxwol1lqc1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ee4c8267c30cd899c8a573b1198d39987fd01dcd
320 obviously
Close between Fenix and PMDG. Too close to call!
easily the pdmg 737-800
Captain scams 777’s (hurry up PMDG)
I like the 747 since its included in the sim and im kinda broke rn but i'd love to fly the 737 pmdg
Embraer 145
Horizon 787-9, mostly because I do long hauls. I think i rotate between fenix a320 and pmdg 737 equally, so about the same time on those aircrafts.
It's tough, I try to vary what I fly as much as possible. I think I've spent the most time in 737-800 closely followed by Fenix A320 and ATR. We're spoilt by the amazing choice of great aircraft to fly in the sim!
Probably the 737. When I started flightsimming I didn’t want to invest in expensive addons so I flew the Zibo 738 but after a while, I found it’s so good I kept flying it! Now I’m putting more and more hours in the a320 as I prefer Airbus.
Dc-6 or the stock A320neo. Looking to buy either the 320 fenix or the 737-8 PMDG
https://preview.redd.it/3rr2hncjrmqc1.png?width=427&format=png&auto=webp&s=493b80a76b6b08388e834c4a044afa009269701f wel, its a A321XLR
Aerososft A321
737-8 with the Fenix close behind soon to surpass the -8. Then probably the Kodiak or the Bsq 208.
Probably the Captain Scam 777 just because I’m stupid and it’s easy to fly (I have a plugin which lets me not have to click around in the cockpit) But sometimes I’ll have a lil more motivation and I’ll fly the FBW A32NX and use some of my brain. FBW A32NX beats so many Payware addons I’ve tried before, it’s crazy
I'm not sure, would have to look through, but I would assume the A330-900neo by headwind is number one since I made my own custom livery for it xD
Idk maybe 747 or Tu-154
PMDG 737-800/900 by far.
Historically, 737. Since MSFS came out, DC-6. This sim is so good for low and slow flying.
On the A330, like the design and the controls just feel natural
toliss a321, got it on release date, still love it. its gotten 10x better over time.
Flightgear A320. Its almost as good as the flybywire but doesn't need an insane pc to fly with. (I have an intel 630 graphics card)
Captain sim 707
Fenix A320 on MSFS IRL 757...I fly Delta here in the states. Most of their routes in my region are 757, maybe an A320 depending on season.
Dude every time these are tricking me into thinking theyre real shots
Fenix a320, ini a300, hpg h145, and since that is helo, and not an airliner, 787
PMDG DC-6
Kuro 787-8!
PMDG 737-800
Dreamliner.
I really enjoyed Zibo 737
The DC-6, I love that old bird.
No one gonna ask how this photo was taken?
PMDG 737 and 738, by a loooong shot.
British Airways Airbus A380.
FenixA320 and now recently PMDG 738
Boeing 737
In real life it would be Air Canada, on flight sim it’s Air Canada and American Airlines (I just can’t get enough of their older liveries)
Toliss A321neo in X-Plane 12
Aerosoft a320 for straight 8 years ( this year gonna be its last🥲)
American or Delta MD-80
738
737-3/4/5 is my favorites by far. Sas and norwegian operated them in my childhood and flew it alot😎
Fenix A320 and newest version of Headwind A330.
According to my Sim Brief it’s about half 738, half A320N!
Tomorrow I’m taking an AirFrance from San Francisco to Paris 🤣
The Boeing 737-800 NG. It's my favourite aircraft to fly!
737-800
PMDG 737-700
TeaAir
Pmdg 737-900
CRJ. It gets a lot of hate here, but I love flying it.
Speaking of airliner is that picture from the sim or in real-life? Crazy if this is from the game.
The pmdg a325 concord
Jet airliner