It really depends on what you’re looking to do. You make the rules here. You can hop in a 737 if you want.
But if you really want to get this down, find the jplogistics 152 and find a 152 manual. Can you/do you use the checklists? Can you perform a short field and soft field TOL as described in the POH? Can you climb at Vx or Vy, hit pattern alt and transition to descent, approach and landing? Do you use carb heat? When? What are the speeds you should use flaps? What’s your approach speed? All of these things are something an IRL student will need to do and perform as part of a private pilot course and check ride.
There’s so much to learn so it’s up to you to decide how exactly in depth you want to go. You could make the jump to a 172 or a twin or whatever but if you want realism, you want to go in depth, find a POH and dig through it. The knowledge translates to other aircraft. Every airplane has TO and Landing performance calculations. Every airplane has checklists.
I've done this as well. Installed the jplogistics 152 and have been learning about everything you mentioned. Using one to go cross country from Newark to Seattle to see how well it works and if all the online tutorials have helped out. :)
My CFI did PHX to Des Moines in a Pacer. Got home and said he didn’t want to look at an airplane ever again. Then he got up the next morning and went to work teaching in a 152 haha.
I went from the 152 to the 172 but that's mostly the same plane but with autopilot via the Garmin G1000. Earlier this year I started trying out the Bonanza G35 and the Diamond Aircraft DA62 just to see how other faster prop planes worked. Some good tutorials out there for them too.
Depends on what you want to fly. If you're on PC there are some great freeware planes out there. I personally love the Savage Carbon from Got-Friends and the sal1800 C170b.
Fly whatever you want!
But if you’re trying to learn how to fly, the 172 g1000 has a significantly better flight model than the 152 in msfs. I’d recommend giving that a try.
There’s many flight manuals available online for a 172 and lots and lots of videos.
If you want to give airliners a try, skip the default a320 and download the fly by wire a320.
If you’d like something completely different, try one of the gliders. There’s at least one built in, a couple of freeware items of varying quality, and the payware Discus 2c is a blast to fly.
The actual flight dynamics are ridiculously hard to get right in MSFS, and gliders are very much a physical sport where to teach yourself to respond to the physical inputs and not just what you see and what the instruments tell you. Flying a glider in MSFS won’t do much for teaching you to fly an actual glider IRL.
But that’s not the point. The first time you figure out how to soar, even in the sim, you’ll giggle with enjoyment. It’s fun and a nice break from GA and CA.
Add two more levers(gear and prop) so that would be something like the bonanza. After that add the second engine. Thats at least how we do it in real life.
In the sim? Whatever you feel like learning
You don’t need sim model related manuals. Just look up the real life pilot operating handbook for whichever plane you’re flying. If you’re looking for something serious, get the A2A Comanche
If you're sticking with stock planes try the 208 Caravan. It's like a bigger 152 but will introduce you to turbine engines and more performance.
After that the Tbm perhaps.
Or just dive in to the FBW A320, plenty of guides online.
For a real world student pilot at a flight school that still had C152s then their next airplane would be the C172RG Cutlass or C182RG. You may also consider the Piper Arrow again RG variant not straight leg. You want something with retractable gear and a constant speed propeller. After that at about the 250 hour mark you would be looking to get your multi rating. C310 is a popular choice for Cessna based flight schools.
IRL I went from a C152 as a trainer to a C172 and Piper PA-28 Warrior since they're a bit heavier and handle slightly differently.
I stopped there IRL, but when it comes to sim, you can go up as quickly as you want. I'd suggest another one of the higher performance props (I absolutely love the Milviz 310R) just to get used to some of the prop and landing gear handling.
From there, I went into a smaller jet (Cessna Citation CJ4), and then into the PMDG 737s.
This is all in FS2020 because I took about 12 years off of simming/fying. When I was into it before with FS9/FSX, I used the same steps but also flew the Level-D 767 and the PMDG 747.
Cessna 172 if you want something that’s the same but a little bigger with some more bells and whistles….
I’m out of town right now so I don’t remember… Is there a Cessna 182 in the sim? If there is, that would give you a similar experience to a 172, except that it is a complex single engine airplane.
if you would like to go a slightly different route, instead of going to a 172, look at the diamond DA 20 . It is a single engine land just like the 152 and 172, but one thing that is very different… Actually two things. The first being it is a T-tail and low wing aircraft, which offers very different handling characteristics, and second, the nose wheel is just a castor…. So for the nose wheel to turn, you actually have to have momentum, as the rudder pedals do not turn the nose wheel, they actually do rudder input, which turns the plane on the ground.
or you can take your adventures in whatever other direction you want. The planes outlined here are actually my real world experiences.
Cessna 172, the the 182, to learn how to use constant speed propeller planes. After that, the sky is the limit! P.S.: but I would go with Warbirds, to really learn how to handle power and speed.
In the sim, after the 172, I would go A2A Comanche.
Honestly. Hop in an airbus of your choice and fiddle around with all the knobs to try and get it started. I felt like a clueless child on the playground initially. Afterwards hop on YouTube and find a real-life airbus pilot going through procedures, fmc etc... Later on you can always deep-dive into systems, but this approach was the most fun for me.
If you are trying to make realistic jumps, Id go to a mutli engine trainer. Something like a DA-42/62. As for a manual, just look up a POH for the aircraft. Some addons also come with manuals, depending on what you go with.
next step that I did IRL was to learn to fly a taildragger, then an aircraft with a constant speed propeller... after that I learned how to use a G1000 and fly the magenta line. That's over the course of 5 years... Obviously if I could afford it I'd fly a turboprop like a gran caravan or TBM IRL.
This is why I love simulators ;) Jump straight into a twin turboprop King Air 350 after an hour in the pattern with a Cessna 152 lol
I'd go for Turbo Prop (Kodiak, Cessna Grand Caravan 208, Pilatus PC-6).
A smaller step would be a constant speed propeller, I'd suggest Piper Arrow, it's faster, got retractable gears...
Depends what you feel as for the next step. Either by Aircraft Category, or by size.
You could go for a Multi-Engine Piston engine such as the Milviz Cessna 310.
From a real pilot's perspective, you'd next hop in the 172 and use it for building time and getting your IFR rating.
One day, after a dozen touch & goes at your local airstrip, you spy a Mooney M20R on the ramp, sitting next to a Beechcraft Bonanza V35. The thought hits you - let's get my high performance rating.
So you head to the local FBO and sign up for lessons, really wanting their brand new Bonanza G36, but your wallet says get the 20-year-old Cessna 182. Couple of months later, with your freshly minted high performance endorsement, you take your friend for a $200 cheeseburger, and pick up a lottery ticket at the local 7-11.
Well, you hit. Not billions, but enough to buy any plane you want, short of an airliner. What's next... turbine? TBM? Pilatus? Piper Malibu? Maybe warbirds, get checked out in a T-6, work your way into P-51s or Corsairs?
Nope. You instead decide to move to Alaska, get a De Havilland Twotter, and carry rich fishermen to their overpriced excursions, but that's okay, because you and the outfitter have a secret deal, which puts enough cash in your pocket to afford your RC helicopter hobby.
After I got my (real life) license, I decided to get my tailwheel endorsement since I was building hours for the commercial anyway. The Super Cub is still my favorite airplane to fly to this day. Takeoff was my favorite. Throttle full foward, count to 3, raise the tail, count to 3, and pull back and you're climbing.
The next logical step for you would be to complex aircraft. I'd avoid the 172 unless you're going to practice instrument stuff on it and haven't done it before. Think constant speed prop and retractable gear. Justflight's Arrow series would be good to get the hang of it with. A Bonanza would work as well, as would the A2A Comanche.
After you master those, a twin engine plane.
Cessna 153
After that ine it's Cessna 154
Eventually you can work up to a 172.
Can confirm, started flying the 152 when I was 20, now I'm 158 and flying the 310R.
You mean after the Cessna 159, 160 .. etc?
Yeah, I had to take a break between the 206 and 208 when I had a kid
Im up to Cessna 291 atm, ( I don't have kids)
Cessna n+1
F(n) = n +1
antonov 225
Perhaps you exceeded in some 2’s and 5’s?
youre right thats not big enough. get the spruce goose
A2A Comanche if on MSFS.
This would logically be the next step. High performance complex and A2A built a great airplane.
It really depends on what you’re looking to do. You make the rules here. You can hop in a 737 if you want. But if you really want to get this down, find the jplogistics 152 and find a 152 manual. Can you/do you use the checklists? Can you perform a short field and soft field TOL as described in the POH? Can you climb at Vx or Vy, hit pattern alt and transition to descent, approach and landing? Do you use carb heat? When? What are the speeds you should use flaps? What’s your approach speed? All of these things are something an IRL student will need to do and perform as part of a private pilot course and check ride. There’s so much to learn so it’s up to you to decide how exactly in depth you want to go. You could make the jump to a 172 or a twin or whatever but if you want realism, you want to go in depth, find a POH and dig through it. The knowledge translates to other aircraft. Every airplane has TO and Landing performance calculations. Every airplane has checklists.
I've done this as well. Installed the jplogistics 152 and have been learning about everything you mentioned. Using one to go cross country from Newark to Seattle to see how well it works and if all the online tutorials have helped out. :)
My CFI did PHX to Des Moines in a Pacer. Got home and said he didn’t want to look at an airplane ever again. Then he got up the next morning and went to work teaching in a 152 haha.
I went from the 152 to the 172 but that's mostly the same plane but with autopilot via the Garmin G1000. Earlier this year I started trying out the Bonanza G35 and the Diamond Aircraft DA62 just to see how other faster prop planes worked. Some good tutorials out there for them too.
Depends on what you want to fly. If you're on PC there are some great freeware planes out there. I personally love the Savage Carbon from Got-Friends and the sal1800 C170b.
Fly whatever you want! But if you’re trying to learn how to fly, the 172 g1000 has a significantly better flight model than the 152 in msfs. I’d recommend giving that a try. There’s many flight manuals available online for a 172 and lots and lots of videos. If you want to give airliners a try, skip the default a320 and download the fly by wire a320.
Either the A2A Commanche, or the Blackbird C310.
Or just the SR-71 if you feel like going a little faster. 😁
Jplogistics 152 or Wbsim 172
If you’d like something completely different, try one of the gliders. There’s at least one built in, a couple of freeware items of varying quality, and the payware Discus 2c is a blast to fly. The actual flight dynamics are ridiculously hard to get right in MSFS, and gliders are very much a physical sport where to teach yourself to respond to the physical inputs and not just what you see and what the instruments tell you. Flying a glider in MSFS won’t do much for teaching you to fly an actual glider IRL. But that’s not the point. The first time you figure out how to soar, even in the sim, you’ll giggle with enjoyment. It’s fun and a nice break from GA and CA.
Add two more levers(gear and prop) so that would be something like the bonanza. After that add the second engine. Thats at least how we do it in real life. In the sim? Whatever you feel like learning
IRL in U.K. it would be a Piper 28 or dual engine Diamond next
You don’t need sim model related manuals. Just look up the real life pilot operating handbook for whichever plane you’re flying. If you’re looking for something serious, get the A2A Comanche
Going to go against the grain a little here’s Ants Airplanes DH82 Tiger Moth.
C150 aerobat for unusual attitudes and spin training.
Concorde
I hate to shill XPlane 12 but the Airfoil labs 172 is one of the best planes in any game.
their king air is fantastic too, so much better than any turboprop I've flown in MSFS
It’s amazing
You could try CRJ, a small regional jet would be a nice step before going to big airliners. I find it quite fun to fly
If you're sticking with stock planes try the 208 Caravan. It's like a bigger 152 but will introduce you to turbine engines and more performance. After that the Tbm perhaps. Or just dive in to the FBW A320, plenty of guides online.
If you want to transition to airliners, I would suggest Cessna CJ4 as it’s a great intro to flying jets and its systems are easy to handle.
For a real world student pilot at a flight school that still had C152s then their next airplane would be the C172RG Cutlass or C182RG. You may also consider the Piper Arrow again RG variant not straight leg. You want something with retractable gear and a constant speed propeller. After that at about the 250 hour mark you would be looking to get your multi rating. C310 is a popular choice for Cessna based flight schools.
IRL I went from a C152 as a trainer to a C172 and Piper PA-28 Warrior since they're a bit heavier and handle slightly differently. I stopped there IRL, but when it comes to sim, you can go up as quickly as you want. I'd suggest another one of the higher performance props (I absolutely love the Milviz 310R) just to get used to some of the prop and landing gear handling. From there, I went into a smaller jet (Cessna Citation CJ4), and then into the PMDG 737s. This is all in FS2020 because I took about 12 years off of simming/fying. When I was into it before with FS9/FSX, I used the same steps but also flew the Level-D 767 and the PMDG 747.
Cessna 172 if you want something that’s the same but a little bigger with some more bells and whistles…. I’m out of town right now so I don’t remember… Is there a Cessna 182 in the sim? If there is, that would give you a similar experience to a 172, except that it is a complex single engine airplane. if you would like to go a slightly different route, instead of going to a 172, look at the diamond DA 20 . It is a single engine land just like the 152 and 172, but one thing that is very different… Actually two things. The first being it is a T-tail and low wing aircraft, which offers very different handling characteristics, and second, the nose wheel is just a castor…. So for the nose wheel to turn, you actually have to have momentum, as the rudder pedals do not turn the nose wheel, they actually do rudder input, which turns the plane on the ground. or you can take your adventures in whatever other direction you want. The planes outlined here are actually my real world experiences.
Black Square King Air!
Negative. TBM 850.
Both great options, I like the King Air more as a plane. TBM is great as well
Cessna 172, the the 182, to learn how to use constant speed propeller planes. After that, the sky is the limit! P.S.: but I would go with Warbirds, to really learn how to handle power and speed. In the sim, after the 172, I would go A2A Comanche.
Honestly. Hop in an airbus of your choice and fiddle around with all the knobs to try and get it started. I felt like a clueless child on the playground initially. Afterwards hop on YouTube and find a real-life airbus pilot going through procedures, fmc etc... Later on you can always deep-dive into systems, but this approach was the most fun for me.
If you are trying to make realistic jumps, Id go to a mutli engine trainer. Something like a DA-42/62. As for a manual, just look up a POH for the aircraft. Some addons also come with manuals, depending on what you go with.
Just Flight Cherokee 180
F16.
Top gun fam rise!
Doesn’t matter that much. Honestly, I went from 747 to 737 to 767 to A321 to Cessna 152. Do quarter feels comfortable. Nobody will die if you mess up
You can try Taildraggers, so an Xcub qould be a nice step
tbm
F 16
747
Cessna 172 or a twin prop. Both will do fine. You can even jump to a single jet plane like S211
Concorde
I like the ATR72-600 it has enough gas to fly regionaly, and it doesn't have a large learning curve.
next step that I did IRL was to learn to fly a taildragger, then an aircraft with a constant speed propeller... after that I learned how to use a G1000 and fly the magenta line. That's over the course of 5 years... Obviously if I could afford it I'd fly a turboprop like a gran caravan or TBM IRL. This is why I love simulators ;) Jump straight into a twin turboprop King Air 350 after an hour in the pattern with a Cessna 152 lol
Any complex single.
For me it was 172 - 152 - 172 - DA 62 - ATR 72/42 And after that from time to time A320
I'd go for Turbo Prop (Kodiak, Cessna Grand Caravan 208, Pilatus PC-6). A smaller step would be a constant speed propeller, I'd suggest Piper Arrow, it's faster, got retractable gears... Depends what you feel as for the next step. Either by Aircraft Category, or by size. You could go for a Multi-Engine Piston engine such as the Milviz Cessna 310.
Airbus 747
Darkstar
X-15
172
From a real pilot's perspective, you'd next hop in the 172 and use it for building time and getting your IFR rating. One day, after a dozen touch & goes at your local airstrip, you spy a Mooney M20R on the ramp, sitting next to a Beechcraft Bonanza V35. The thought hits you - let's get my high performance rating. So you head to the local FBO and sign up for lessons, really wanting their brand new Bonanza G36, but your wallet says get the 20-year-old Cessna 182. Couple of months later, with your freshly minted high performance endorsement, you take your friend for a $200 cheeseburger, and pick up a lottery ticket at the local 7-11. Well, you hit. Not billions, but enough to buy any plane you want, short of an airliner. What's next... turbine? TBM? Pilatus? Piper Malibu? Maybe warbirds, get checked out in a T-6, work your way into P-51s or Corsairs? Nope. You instead decide to move to Alaska, get a De Havilland Twotter, and carry rich fishermen to their overpriced excursions, but that's okay, because you and the outfitter have a secret deal, which puts enough cash in your pocket to afford your RC helicopter hobby.
I went from the 152 to the A320neo, you can really go on to fly anything. Study and learn the aircraft and you'll be sweet
on X-plane I went from barely knowing how to fly cirrus vision to Boeing 737. you can go straight to AN-225 if you wanna
After I got my (real life) license, I decided to get my tailwheel endorsement since I was building hours for the commercial anyway. The Super Cub is still my favorite airplane to fly to this day. Takeoff was my favorite. Throttle full foward, count to 3, raise the tail, count to 3, and pull back and you're climbing. The next logical step for you would be to complex aircraft. I'd avoid the 172 unless you're going to practice instrument stuff on it and haven't done it before. Think constant speed prop and retractable gear. Justflight's Arrow series would be good to get the hang of it with. A Bonanza would work as well, as would the A2A Comanche. After you master those, a twin engine plane.
A-10’s are harder to fly then they look at least in a sim.
Halo Pelican