DC Designs PT-17 Stearman - Aerobatics over northern California - Microsoft Flight Simulator

This time we are taking DC Designs Boeing Stearman up for a short aerobatic flight over KEKA Murray Field in northern California. The Stearman has a very special place in my heart, I've been very lucky to fly in one quite a few times, often including stick time or aerobatics (just as a passenger) and help out as ground crew on a few airshows. It's one of my favorite planes in real life.

DC Designs Stearman is a bit of a mixed bag for me. It has by far one of the best sound sets in the sim, it sounds exactly like a Continental powered Stearman. And with the Flight Model Realism mod by Stearmandriver (a real Sterman pilot) it also feels and flies exactly like I remember from the real one. Which is why I think it's one of the most enjoyable planes in the sim.

However, the visual model, both on the out- and inside is a bit flawed, and one of the less authentic depictions in MSFS. I of course realize that it is also one of the cheapest aircraft addons in the sim. But I'm still going to point out a few inaccuracies.

The cockpit proportions in general are a bit off and the instruments should not stick out of the panel. And just as a further example the clock should be a lot smaller than the other instruments.

Regarding the outside model, some of the more noticeable mistakes are the missing metal panels at the tail section of the fuselage, the oversized & wrongly shaped handgrips in the lower wings, and the simplified engine model. Another issue are the fabric surfaces, in real life they are smooth with tapes (fabric stripes) over the rips, to cover the stitching. Here it looks like the fabric surfaces only consists out of tape stripes.

As I said before, I enjoy it a lot, and it is great to even get smoke effects and amazing custom sounds for around 12-13€. And I would highly recommend it to everyone who wants to get a feeling for what it is like to fly a classic biplane.

But having said that, I would still love to see a study-level Stearman in the sim at the quality level of for example FlyingIrons, Got Friends or Blackbirds somewhere in the future. The Stearman is such an iconic plane and I think it would deserve an additional 100% accurate depiction in the sim.

Link to Stearmandriver's Flight Model Mod:
https://flightsim.to/file/42726/dc-de...

Link to the nice repaint by Propblur:
https://flightsim.to/file/51154/dc-de...

Hardware used:
Ryzen 7 5800X
32GB RAM
RTX 3080

00:00 Intro
00:30 Startup
01:30 Taxi
02:50 Runup
03:30 Takeoff
04:14 External Takeoff View
06:30 Aerobatic Display
10:53 Landing
11:36 External Landing View (sorry about the low angle)
12:00 Taxi
13:20 Shutdown
13:51 Spectator View Takeoff
14:33 Spectator View Aerobatics
18:47 Spectator View Landing
19:29 Tail Cam