Blackbird SR-71 Blackbird has taken off and Beale AFB retro released. (bundle)

[DennyA]

Early access is life. The documentation folder has the actual declassified Lockheed SR-71 manuals!
Spoiler: You're gonna need to read them before you can land this thing.

Beautiful model and seriously interesting to fly. Can't wait to dive in. (Screenshots from a "ready on the runway" takeoff and a "oh, wow, I though the F-104 was hard to land" short flight.)










Get it now here. Early access, but they'll be at 1.0 before you master this thing. https://www.blackbirdsims.com/flight/PG.php?id=80

 

[Dimus]

Just to also note that for a complete experience the "retro" version of Beale AFB in late 80's configuraion is also available and can be bought as a bundle with the Blackbird:

Blackbird Simulations Retro-Beale AFB for MSFS2024

Historically important air base in its Cold War pinnacle of activity state Situated in the stunning Sacramento valley of Northern California, Beale has been an active USAF base since the start of the Cold War. Primarily known for reconnaissance, Beale has launched the eyes in the sky that have...

blackbirdsims.com

 

[DennyA]

Yep retro Beale looks great! I bought that too, but didn’t have time to set up many screenshots last night as I shouldn’t have been playing at all.

I did start the manual and the levels of realism and the adjustability are awesome! Even on simple mode the plane can kill you if you exit the envelope. Can’t wait to get proficient enough to crank up the full realism.

 

[Dimus]

Hint: Hangar No12 is the animated one. If you start there you can open the doors using the Walt's wheel option to open doors in the maintenance page. Looks and sounds like this:

Also an easter egg (although it's Cristmas) happens at 06:00 and 18:00 every day.
Was not supposed to reveal that but it's kinda cool...

 

[Montie]

How is the performance of the SR-71?
Their C-130 is heavy on my FPS.

 

[strykerpsg]

Watched the start up videos and really like the interactive wheel communications with your back seater, plus the occasional prompts during each step that require your interaction. This one's a keeper for sure.

@Dimus, any chance of using a similar prompt for the magnificent dirty 30?

 

[Dimus]

@strykerpsg I'll pass it on but you can also suggest it on their Discord channel.
@Montie Performance is pretty good as reported by many testers and people that already got it and flying it.

 

[centuryseries]

Downloading the bundle now. Thank you Dimus for the work you have put into the retro Beale. Looking forward to flying from there.

As much as I hate to say it, it does look like you guys have done a good job - obviously as someone who developed SRs for FS for many years I'm bound to see some things that I would've done/shaped slightly differently, but thats what being a modeller is all about - if I could, I would've brought my latest into the new sim, but I'm getting older and cannot keep pace sadly.

 

[centuryseries]

Dimus, two quick things I’ve noticed during a ten minute look around yesterday.

Pitot probe is missing the short stubby side part.

The ASARS nose had the radar warning receiver bulges and was bulbous, the ASARS nose included looks like a very early nose prior to the Radar Warning Receiver bulges being added or a training nose, and not representative of the bulbous ASARS type.

This is what the ASARS nose looks like.

Oh and 17961 Bald not bold tailor should not have the Beale red fin flash with the Maltese crosses. The red fin flash was only seen with BB tail code markings post reactivation in 1997.

I’ll have a better look later and appreciate its early access still.

 

[Whitehawk]

This thing is awesome

 

[Dimus]

@centuryseries Thanks for these, I’ll pass on the pitot/nose issue. For the bald eagle livery, I had already pointed that out and was supposed to be fixed, apparently a regression. I’ll make sure it’s fixed.

 

[Dimus]

Oh and 17961 Bald not bold tailor should not have the Beale red fin flash with the Maltese crosses. The red fin flash was only seen with BB tail code markings post reactivation in 1997.

Well my memory did not fail me. The red band is not there. It may be seen in some older screenshots before it was fixed, (even one in the installer) but at least in my copy it is like this:

 

[centuryseries]

Ah yes it was the installer where I saw that!

 

[Dimus]

Also for the nose:
- The side pitot was there but got lost at a point during consecutive builds and fixing the "reds". It will be reattached.
- It seems that the naming convention for the variants got reversed and the OBCDs are called ASARS and vice versa. Here is how what is meant to be ASARS looks like:

This will be fixed too.

 

[SH427]

I remember when the Blackbird was teased not long after you guys did the F-4 in FSX/early P3D. I was stoked, and I was happy to wait. I followed the sims, and kept up to a point. I saw the SR-71 in FS2020 and I was a little miffed when you guys decided that you were going to do it in FS24 natively, at first.

But I thought about it for a long while, and last night after seeing the positive vibes about SU4, and the realization that the Blackbird was released, I got both FS24 and the SR-71 (my poor wallet) and did a quick flight last night.

I'm glad I waited, and I'm glad I was a little impatient. You guys have something good here, and I know that you are going to treat the aircraft with the respect and reverence she deserves.
That first startup with the V-8s gave me goosebumps, and I knew I made a good choice.

 

[centuryseries]

Hi Dimus, thanks - the ASARS nose looks different to that one - yes you have the RWR bumps near the pitot but the overall cross section of that nose is bulbous like a platypus, not like the regular SR-71 nose.

ASARS profile like this:





Also just had my first flight and noticed the Restart switches near the Spike control knobs are both labelled L - Restart as are one of the nearby knobs - forget which.

Also, rudders not centralised and elevons also not centralised - I followed the checklists (which are a good addition), but somethings not quite right there.

She's also missing the anti static strip beneath the nose gear wheels:



I had an unstart, but with one engine out completely, if I go to afterburner on the remaining, I still get the yellow/orange glow in the off engine and the heat haze.

Fuselage is spelt wrong on the anti collision lights switch

One last thing for tonight - the AFT fuel transfer switch does not work correctly - in real life it must be held in position in order to function - this is because at high speed and altitude, you do not want the aircraft to be tail heavy as that can cause it to lose control and back flip - therefore they engineered the aft fuel transfer switch so that the pilot had to hold it in position to make it something he could not forget to switch off!!

The FWD fuel transfer works as it should.

 

[Dimus]

@centuryseries Thanks, notes taken. Can't promise about remodelling the nose but the rest seem managable. For rudders and elevons try to wait a few seconds after loading, animation resets. They are looking into that.

In the meantime I would suggest to new pilots to follow a document by the lead coder, Dutch, in the documentation folder called notes to testers. He desctibes a few flight profiles that you can try to gradually get the feel of the aircraft, starting from a simple circuit and eventually manging a high altitude Mach3 plus flight with refueling in between. It is a challenge but also rewarding once you make it.

@SH427 I just made the KBAB scenery and did some testing. There is a team into this focusing on making this thing fly as close as possible to the real one and providing an overall experience (part of it is the scenery). Given the sim's limitations and quirks this is not easy.

 

[Dimus]

Also a dedicated channel for discussion of issues has been set up on the Blackbird Discord here: https://discord.gg/QJZPEyQA

 

[Dimus]

Both the SR and KBAB retro are now available on Marketplace for those who prefer. Unfortunately there is no paossibility of a bundle offer there. @centuryseries I see you started posting on Discord, thanks! Please do so for all you see, devs will monitor this channel and record all, although maybe a bit slower during the holidays. Your input is valued.

 

[Dimus]

A video showcasing some special features of the Beale AFB retro scenery: