1. what are the functions of those five yellow buttons/lights (the lights above the landing gear/ flap notification on the right)
They control selective jettison of weapons. Of course, if we had weapons...
2. How does one engage or disengage the afterburners?
They are directly linked to the throttle, and FSX Acceleration has added support for multi-stage afterburners. Before Acceleration, it was impossible to fully model afterburners, because the A/B was an on/off proposition in the flight model. Now, the afterburner smoothly progress through its 6 stages, starting when the throttle is about 90% of its run. The afterburner engages when RPM it's more than 100%
