New FSXBA Hornet

[pyroperson87]

I have only had time to fly one lap around the boat, but boy oh boy is it lovely!  Holds AOA really well.  Here's a screenie of my pass.

[jimi08]

Sweet!  Nice pass!

[pyroperson87]

Sweet!  Nice pass!

Thanks! That was actually the best pass I've ever had. My groove time was pretty long since I was on speed at about 124 knots with about 2800lbs of gas.  The bird really does fly well.  It felt rock solid from abeam all the way down to the wires.  When I get a chance later I'll try a few more passes under various conditions and see how she holds AoA with slight crosswinds, turbulence, etc.

[pyroperson87]

Still loving the 2013 beta. But going back to textures for the 2013 bird...    1) Who did the VFA-106 paints?  They seem so much more crisp than the other textures.  2) Any chance we could get that guy working on this wonderful bird? See attached. I'm sure it would be a total pain in his hind parts, but man would it be fun to fly the Sidewinder route in that thing! 

Thanks for all you do for us Jimi!

Pyro out.

[jimi08]

Thanks again for taking the time to check it out and for the input.  As for the textures of the 2012 bird, they were done mainly by 4 different groups/individuals.  The majority of them were done by Ray Gagnon.  The Blues Angels textures were done by the FSXBA.  Micro did the VMFA-323 textures and they guys over at FSX Fleet did the VFA-106 and 125 textures.  I'll talk to them and see if they have any more to contribute for the upcoming release.

[pyroperson87]

Flew some FCLP and I couldn't get the ATC to engage on the downwind. Is that still implemented in the 2013 bird? I never really used it in the 2012 bird unless it was crappy weather case 3 ops. I was probably just doing something wrong. I was at 145kts at 600agl, fair weather, about 4000lbs of gas.

[jimi08]

I didn't make any changes to it so it should work as normal.   I haven't re-evaluated it with the 2013 Hornet.  I will look into it.  Thanks.

[felixthreeone]

I have been doing some back-to-back flying with this jet and the Sludge, both are really good! I cannot seem to get the auto flap function to work, though? Am I not flipping a switch somewhere? The manual says that they are conditionally automated, but once I am airborne they don't move regardless of speed and/or AOA....

[jimi08]

Thanks for the compliment!  The flaps are manually operated with the aircraft in the dirty (gear down) configuration. They go into the auto mode once the aircraft is in the clean (gear up) configuration. From there, they are AOA controlled as you mentioned before. Did you have your landing gear extended while testing the flaps?

[felixthreeone]

Thanks for the response, Jimi! I did have the gear down...and after setting takeoff flaps, which worked, they wouldnt come up at all...even with the gear retracted and in level flight at various airspeeds. Also I couldn't manually move them either...which would make sense since they are supposed to be in auto lol

[jimi08]

Hmmm.... Do you have your flaps mapped to a button or an axis on your joystick/throttle?  Having the flaps are mapped to an axis might cause an issue.

[felixthreeone]

Thanks for the response, Jimi...the flaps control that I use is on my Saitek multi-panel; I also have them mapped to a key on my X-52 Pro....could this be the problem? Is there a workaround?

.....I tested it with the default Accel hornet and the auto flap function still works on that one?

They aren't mapped to an axis, just to a joystick rocker switch to raise/lower...

[felixthreeone]

Just did another test; This time, I used the VC flap control to lower the flaps to T/O position. Departed, and when I raised the gear the auto flaps were working. When I lowered the gear, the flaps worked manually (not automatically) using my joystick/panel controls, which Is the way it is supposed to work (I think). Either way, It works! Thanks for a great addon!

[jimi08]

Great to hear!  Glad you got them working!  Thanks again for the feedback

[kamchatka]

Hello Jimi

I've had a good look at the 2013 model. You've put a lot of time into it, that's clear. Thanks for the beta release, it's good to have a sneak preview

Further to one of my earlier posts in this thread, I've got my hands on a stick (finally) but it's taking some time to get used to it (null zones - Phfff), so I'm not really in a position to be a quality tester for the AOA thing yet but I appreciate your earlier explanation and I am practising like hell.

I notice that you also sorted the auto-flaps issue (also previously discussed in this thread), so now there's no problem taking the plane up to 30 or 40,000ft.

The camera/buffeting is cool. I have the force-feedback on my stick set to off because it makes such a racket (ha!) but I wondered if you modelled that in too?

I did notice a couple of changes which maybe are still to be checked out...
1) The max speed seems to have increased, is this correct?
2) The fuel-usage seems incorrect. You know that sweet spot just after the afterburners come on and suddenly the fuel efficiency increases (is there a technical term for this)? Well that seemed to be really exaggerated. I did a regular flight from Oceana NAS to Pensacola Nas at FL40. Its around 650nm. Even with a 95kt headwind I my fuel range was showing over 10 hours - I would have expected it to be around 1.5 to 2.00 hours. By the time I reached Pensacola I had only used 15% fuel - I would normally use at least that amount just for the climb to cruise height. For low speed carrier ops, the fuel seems to burn as expected.

Off-topic comment but was pleased to see that Dino won his award for the Goshawk. Very deserved. http://indiafoxtecho.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks again Jimi.