Falcon 4 Mods V Falcon 4 Allied Force

Can anyone tell me if it's worth getting Allied Force if you already
own the original Falcon 4? There are a lot of mods and realism patches
for Falcon 4 so is it worth installing one of these instead of going
out and buying Allied Force which, as there are no upgrade deals for
existing Falcon 4 owners, I don't really want to have to do.
Also, which of these mods and realism patches should I go for? There
are so many and I understand that you need to go for one over another.
But which one?
I bought Falcon 4 when it first came out but only now do I have enough
free time to finally get into it and give it the time it deserves. Is
the original patched version so full of bugs as to make it unplayable
or should I try getting into this before trying one of the realism
patches?
Flying a plane is not an easy thing to do. Realistic flightsims are
even more difficult to handle because you have a limited sight (a two
dimensional and relatively small pc screen) and difficult ways of
mastering the cockpit (mouse and keybaord). A good flightstick is a
help, but still a real cockpit is far easier to handle. The crowds that
like flying and are willing to accept a steep learningcurve are quite
small. Which makes developement of a flighsim risky business. Only MSFS
sells in large quantities, but my guess is that many owners don't fly
much, but like the idea of posessing a flightsim. No wonder that the
community falls back on 'old' titles: there is little new on the
market: Lomac, IL2 series, F4 AF, that's about it.