When I was approached and asked "if Ifancied a Quickie", aside from the obvious raised eyebrows, I jumpedat the chance to review another aircraft from Lionheart Creations -the developers of the excellent Trinidad TB21 GT add-on aircraft(see my review here).

Knowing nothing whatsoever about the Quickie aircraft, I performeda little of my own research:

Taking a quote directly from WIkipedia: "The Quickie was primarilydesigned by Burt Rutan as a low-powered, highly efficient Kit-plane".So essentially, people used to purchase and then manually assemblethese aircraft - a sort of DIY aircraft, as it were.

I also discovered that there is a World-wide admiration andfascination for this little plane; so with much anticipation, Idownloaded and installed the module into MSFS.

For those of you who, like myself, have never even seen a Quickieaircraft before, you are in for a wondrous surprise! I have simplynever encountered anything quite as weird and unique looking as thisaircraft in a flight simulator.

It immediately reminded me of a Cat-fish, or some other strangeaquatic looking sea creature - it is quite remarkable.

The Quickie Q200 comes bundled with thirteen different liveries, soplenty of choice and variety is on offer there and the exteriormodeling is finely detailed.

The interior of the aircraft, albeit simplistic, is of the typicalLionheart Creation high quality and shine: with chrome rimmed dials;plush comfy seating and the apparently obligatory 'Experimental'lettering on the cockpit's back wall. The cockpit is also quiteinteractive, with the option to open/close the canopy (accompanied bya realistic and fluid animation) and an option for differing shades oftinted canopy glass.

So, time for a test flight around London City...

Upon throttling up and releasing the parking brake, one will noticethat the nose of the aircraft will lower as it gains momentum down therunway. There is nothing to immediately panic about here, as unlikesomething like the Spitfire aircraft, there seems to be no apparentdanger of the front mounted propeller hitting the ground.

Within moments, the Quickie was eagerly reaching for the skies;adding a generous amount of nose down trim seems mandatory at thispoint, to avoid the aircraft from reaching Jupiter!

I levelled off at around 100 feet above ground level and headedtowards the main City center of London.

I immediately noticed the unmatched field of view of the outsideWorld that the Quickie offers; it is quite simply one of the very bestfield of views that I've encountered in a simulated aircraft.

Also apparent is its fantastic and fluid handling; performing'barrel rolls' or 'loop-de-loops' is all too easy and massivelyexhilarating! Another neat feature are the noises of airframe stressesand strains when you perform such maneuvers - these are quite subtlebut really help add to the realism and immersion.

Dropping down to a tree-clipping 100 feet above ground level, theworld around me zipped by at an alarming rate. The outstanding fieldof view that the Quickie Q200 offers, coupled with 160 knot employedspeed, made for a thrill induced and nail biting flight; with memaking small adjustments with my Hotas, to avoid oncoming obstaclesand buildings - totally recommended!

After a short & extreme, sight-seeing tour of London City Center, Iheaded back towards London City Airport and lined up for an approach.With help of the excellent included thorough manual, I slowed myaircraft down to a typical approach speed of 80 knots and easilymanaged to land on runway 10 - one does have to be a little carefulupon touchdown, as a wayward bounce can lead to you crumpling thepropeller; but generally, the Quickie is fairly straight forward toland.

So, this leads me on to my next section of this review: who would Irecommend the Quickie Q200 to - who would I recommend buy thiswonderful add-on aircraft?

The obvious audience would be the existing fans of the Quickieaircraft (either in its real world or simulated format).

For others like myself, who have never even heard of the Quickie:Well, I would likely have never noticed this add-on if it hadn't beenoffered me as way of a review. Now that I have got to experience andfly the Quickie, I can't now even contemplate a time of me not owningit!

I own a fair few scenery add-ons for MSFS and the Quickie isdefinitely my 'go to' aircraft for flying around and seeing (in veryclose proximity) what these add-on sceneries have to offer.

I've already made mention in this article about the Quickie'sexcellent field of view of the outside world, when sitting in thecockpit; so, it's simply the ideal aircraft to go and fly in-betweenbuilding and structures and other densely built-up areas.

It also has simple autopilot functionality, so flying from town totown (or city to city) is very achievable.

Priced at $24.95 (or around £18), the Quickie Q200 is budgetfriendly and this one really is a steal. Fans of the real aircraftare no doubt already on the checkout phase of purchase; for the restof you: try something different and truly unique in your flightsimming life - you won't be disappointed with the Quickie.

A Video Look At The Q200

James Huddison

Purchase Lionheart Creations - Q200 for MSFS 2020

Also available for FSX/P3D