Just Flight Hawk T1/T1a (X-Plane)

I cheated a smidge and used X-Wing for some formation screens for my article…at least until I figure out MP…

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Has anyone figured out how to get the smoke pod working in the Just Flight Hawk? I’m stumped…

This Just Flight Hawk (by the way) is really, really good. I’m enjoying the heck out of it. I’ve spent the last three days collecting notes on a scratchpad for the review…and they have done a really nice job. Landing distances seem spot on (BAE advertises around 500 meters / 1,640’ for typical landing weights and I’m measuring around 1,566’ at 8,700 lbs…so seems in line). Same with takeoff data.

I don’t have any speeds other than what is recommended in the guide…130 ref, 110 threshold and 100 touchdown. So that’s what I’m using. Fun flying it from the back seat too…you get to sort of peer around the front ejection seat, but visibility is quite good with the plane’s tendency to wheelbarrow a bit with flaps out. I’m measure almost zero pitch angle at 130 and approach flaps. At flaps to land it is slightly negative, resulting in a good sight picture.

How would you compare it to the VEAO Hawk?

That would actually make an interesting article…! :wink:

I actually can’t really make a comparison. It has been so long since I flew the Hawk in DCS…mostly because I was waiting for it and the C-101CC to be finished and then I was going to dive into them. I’d like to still do that…

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Chris, you are still the screenshot master. I would have chosen the cliche setup of the camo Hawk flying low over the green Welsh countryside. But the London concrete and high altitude really makes the red pop. Very nice indeed.

The FMOD sounds in the Hawk must be turned way up to be appreciated. The back seat is closer to the motor and there seems to be several layers of engine noise that can only be heard from that seat. The racket the gear makes as it hobbles over the pavement is also noticeably different in the back versus the front. The only complaint I have (and it’s a small one) is the tic-toc of grunts my pilot makes during maneuvering with significant G. It’s a little distracting because I am the pilot. And I don’t believe I am doing any grunting. Otherwise my wife in the same room would be laughing at me hysterically. I’d rather a less dissonant noise like the rumble and tin-canning that all metal planes make when working hard.

Oh and “negative” on the smoke. I didn’t even know that was an option.

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Had a chance to give the Hawk a whirl a bit more in VR today - it is fantastic. Did anyone else notice the reflection of the outside world in the glass on the compass mounted on the canopy bow?

One thing I find intriguing about the plane (not knowing if this is true behavior or not) is that it has exceptionally good over the nose visibility in the landing pattern. I already mentioned this…but it definitely has a wheelbarrowing tendency with flaps out and really lets you see quite clearly over the nose.

And the sound effects are simply superb.

It’s fair to say they did a fantastic job with the Hawk. I would like to see more military aircraft done by the same team.

Its also fun around the boat. Onviously you can only bounce and go. But you get the instructor’s perspective like nothing else currently available to us can give.

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So Hawk aficionados - the Hawk as modeled in X-Plane only appears to have rheostats that control cockpit flood lighting. As you dim them down, the entire cockpit goes dim together. Does the Hawk not have backlit individual instruments or are all those instruments truly bulbless?

Yes. But the back seat controls don’t work properly. While in the fromt seat flip the switch to the right of the nav lights. That will turn the backlights on full bright. You can then control the left, forward and right panels with the three rheostats below it.

Yeah, I found that switch and the rheostats work…but to me, it looks like those are flood lights rather than instrument lights. Like when you dim down the center one, the entire panel goes dim as opposed to just the instruments. So the dead space between instruments dims at the same rate as the instrument faces…which makes me think it is a floodlight rather than actual instrument back lighting. Am I explaining that right?

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Yep you are. You just happen to be more observant than me. I got what I wanted with the rheostats and didn’t consider what manner of lighting had changed. I’ve been away but I’ll check it out after voting “mob” tomorrow.

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And it may be modeled correctly…but it is pretty rare to see only floodlighting in a cockpit. And I tried to maneuver the camera angle around to actually see the source of the light…like if it is over the shoulder or from under the glare shield…but couldn’t spot the actual light source.

Just checked. And yep, same with me. Given that the compass is backlit I think your hunch about the instruments being the same is probably true.

Thanks for checking that. Unfortunately, I can’t really find any photos of the T1 with a night illuminated cockpit to show me whether flood lighting is correct or not…