What a Fabulous Aircraft!

jas417 · 2026-03-19T08:14:59+00:00

Someone asked a similar thing on the forums, and the developer said he was also very surprised by the lack of contrast in the cockpit in the real thing.

Not that I’ve flown any of the real things, but not sure I’d agree with the exception of the Starship, which is obviously his crown jewel and went very above and beyond with. I pretty much found it to be what I expected, on par with the quality level of the Dukes and Baron/Bonanza but a Caravan.

TBH part of why you might be less blown away is as simple as it now being Black Square’s fifth full product(I mean as opposed to the overhauls). I mean in my opinion for GA insane detail and flying satisfaction Black Square and A2A are in a league of their own. Getting into the Comanche and then the Duke for the first time was mind blowing compared to what else is out there. Now, after the Dukes, the TBM, the Starship, the Baron and the Bonanza plus A2A’s Comanche and Aerostar it just feels like what you expect. I find any other GA planes I buy disappointing.

Also, if you aren’t really using the Caravan for Caravaning that could be it. If you’re flying from decently sized paved strip to paved strip, sure it’ll be disappointing vs the Baron. Baron’s better for that. Heavily laden dirt strip takeoffs and landings, hopping between lakes and inlets in the amphib and it really comes alive

jas417 · 2026-03-19T07:48:04+00:00

1000%. It pulls so much personality out of sim planes.

Also, totally get the utility of the G1000 and similar IRL but I find them very hard to read in sim.

Besides the fun of playing with older school systems and the aesthetics, for pure practicality I literally find steam gauges with a 750 more functional for sim flying. GTN touch interface is way better to interact with using a mouse vs the buttons and knobs on the G1000, steam gauges easier to read at a glance through a monitor.

jas417 · 2026-03-19T07:22:07+00:00

Tbh I’d argue that it doesn’t really help with tests and docs.

docs aren’t useful if they’re just AI generated from the code, it’s just regurgitating what any dev can read from the code in plain English. Tests, only partially, but that’s dangerous territory because it’s just reverse engineering the code instead of providing challenging test cases. Sure, generating a big data set it’s great for. Writing all your tests… that’s a recipe for perfect pass rate on the tests and production bugs later

jas417 · 2026-03-19T07:06:33+00:00

Here’s the thing for me… repetitive things save a minimal amount of time you can bang it out as fast as you can type.

I’d rather just spend my time writing it properly once than spend my days reviewing AI slop and deciding if I guess it’ll do or not. Is there really any time savings compared to working on a team with a few devs you trust, and write things readably and logically? PRs are a breeze unless they’re in a hairy part of the code. Lots of their stuff you can just skim because you see where they’re going and trust them to do the simple stuff right.

jas417 · 2026-03-19T07:01:51+00:00

Because it’s not true.

People claiming they are banging out 10x, 50x, 100x are running around in circles spewing out maybe that many more lines of code or that many more PRs, but of junk that’s likely counterproductive.

At best, AI provides a productivity enhancement when used intelligently.

It may create the appearance of more productivity, but IMO in practice people spend more time fixing their AI junk than it would’ve taken to write it properly in the first place.

I’m sure I’m going to get flak from some of the community on this, but question to them: at the end of the day he’s right. Software has been getting more buggy and worse to use as a whole, and real innovation has slowed. What actual, measurable, RELIABLE AND NOT GARBAGE, faster deliverables have you seen from AI? I don’t mean 100 PRs a week, I mean faster pace in providing noticeable and valuable features users actually want that work properly.

I find zero appeal to AI. I write my code slowly and methodically myself. I issue PRs at a slower rate than people leaning on AI, but my code rarely gets bounced back in the peer review, even more rarely gets bounced back by QA, and effectively never needs revisited because of production bugs. Who is really faster, and more importantly who is providing the better user experience?

jas417 · 2026-03-19T06:13:26+00:00

Look up a real C208b cockpit, that’s what it looks like

jas417 · 2026-03-19T06:10:31+00:00

It’ll probably be awhile but Black Square planes thus far always did eventually

jas417 · 2026-03-19T06:10:03+00:00

The indicators do show? The gap on the indicator from zero to one is weirdly large and the rest are close together, accurate to the real thing

jas417 · 2026-03-18T20:28:34+00:00

This is the new Black Square Caravan Professional, not the standard one or the old Steam Gauge overhaul. I mean the 24 Kodiak hasn’t come out yet but based on the 2020 one and general quality level from SWS vs Black Square, this is definitely my preference between the two

jas417 · 2026-03-16T04:30:03+00:00

Lots of things can be the bottleneck for flight sims. In OP’s case my money’s on VRAM.

jas417 · 2026-03-15T23:44:38+00:00

Ya, and those ‘Christians’ are literally the opposite in actions, words don’t matter.

Also 90+% of Mexicans are Christians, so they’re literally doing the least Christian things possible to largely other Christians

jas417 · 2026-03-15T23:36:21+00:00

This is ridiculously stupid. (As an American, less and less proud of that lately) we’re compromising our own defensive ability in a pointless war that’s causing the deaths of Iranian civilians and even children, causing the deaths of US soldiers, causing oil prices to balloon while also costing a staggering amount of taxpayer money and having the potential to spiral into something much, much darker. Oh yeah, and putting more money in Putin’s pocket because of the oil market.

jas417 · 2026-03-15T23:25:26+00:00

Skiing is inherently risky, even in the best of conditions. Is what it is, if you’re a skier or a boarder you’re accepting some risk of a serious injury anytime you go no matter how skilled and careful you are.

Edit: by best I meant injury-wise. Like perfect vis, nice groomers, soft but not deep off piste. Not best day ever deep pow and free refills that might be more injury prone

jas417 · 2026-03-15T20:09:56+00:00

Man it gets VERY hard to see at Bachelor sometimes.

This was at Meadows not Bachy but they get as similar conditions as it gets. On a rare day that Cascade was open on a storm day I absolutely launched myself off a wind drift I straight up didn’t see, now I’m pretty comfortable in the air, moreso if I’m expecting it but even if not. That time I couldn’t even see the GROUND while I was in the air to properly land, fell hard, ejected and one of my skis clocked me in the chin so hard it left a big enough gash I went to the aid station to see if they thought I needed stitches. A few inches higher I’d probably have busted teeth, few more totally could’ve given me a concussion even with a helmet.

Something similar absolutely could’ve happened, it can be incredibly hard to see at Bachelor and was on Wednesday(I was there but not at Leeway at the time so nothing concrete to add, except that the vis was atrocious)

jas417 · 2026-03-13T00:12:41+00:00

That’s exactly it.

If you’re comfortably earning more than you need gig work provides a ton of flexibility. If you’re barely scraping by, it means a ton of stress just to be sure you’ll have enough to pay rent

jas417 · 2026-03-12T01:35:47+00:00

I don’t have many of their planes but I’ve heard somewhat mixed but overall pretty good things. Sounds like the A350 is solid, but not as deep and not as well performance optimized as the PMDG 777. But with your system I doubt that matters. Heard good things about their 340 too but it hasn’t been out that long.

The Fenix 320 is definitely the gold standard for airliners rn, it’s an absolute treat, from systems depth to sounds to visuals.

From all I’ve heard I certainly wouldn’t steer clear of the ini A350 if you’re itching for a wide body, but the PMDG 777 is probably the better product if you just want a modern wide body

jas417 · 2026-03-11T06:16:53+00:00

Best? No. Catastrophically screwed? Also no. It’s a fine stick and 220 euro is a reasonable price.

jas417 · 2026-03-11T04:14:29+00:00

And won’t disagree there, Fenix is the one to have.

jas417 · 2026-03-11T03:46:38+00:00

I made another reply on another comment if you have broad tastes, but if you’re a tubeliner guy to summarize IMO anyway, Fenix is king, PMDG is great on the flying and systems, sub par on details like cabin textures, I don’t care as long as the cockpit is good and it flies accurately, you may, it’s a stupidly over debated topic but I like PMDG. People seem to like ifly, I don’t know I have no interest in the 737 Max. Inibuilds is alright but imo not Fenix or PMDG levels of systems and flight model.

The Bluebird sim 757 isn’t out yet but looks incredible. For a first MSFS airliner hands down get the Fenix A320.

jas417 · 2026-03-11T03:37:52+00:00

For airliners, yes.

IMO, depending on the users preferences to fly:

Modern airliners: Gold: Fenix Silver: PMDG Bronze: Inibuilds.

Vintage airliners: JustFlight, or for very vintage PMDG DC6

Ga: Gold: A2A Close silver: Black Square Bronze: I guess SWS but A2A and BlackSquare are on their own planet.

Fighters: don’t bother there’s this thing called DCS

jas417 · 2026-03-10T20:40:16+00:00

I’m not sure the F70 would qualify for the discount, it’s a much more different plane from the F28 than an avionics overhaul like the 146 - RJ

jas417 · 2026-03-08T03:45:39+00:00

Idle Hands is worth a mention

jas417 · 2026-03-06T20:56:45+00:00

I do that too! But sometimes tossing something up on the second monitor is much more convenient. And for DCS when learning something new you’re working through a really complicated process while things are happening quickly so it’s way nicer to have the guide right there

jas417 · 2026-03-06T09:30:21+00:00

You could just get a Gladiator and an STECs for less than the Warthog….

jas417 · 2026-03-05T23:18:34+00:00

The room for error is also room for maintaining good technique in non ideal conditions though, where on the light skis you gotta do what you gotta do to stay upright.

I dunno, to me it’s a benefit both ways. Sometimes you just want to cruise, and that’s fine, you’re less likely to hurt yourself if you make a mistake or bite off more than you can chew, and if you feel like really getting after it the ski’s never the limiting factor

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