Virtavia A-4E Skyhawk released

[DennyA]

I just read the manual. It’s tempting to pick up… Apparently the weapon “preset” model is just one with the config files set up for a full load; you can still adjust the weights and set up a livery with whatever loadout you’d like.

But wow, the manual comments about airbrakes and tailhook make me wonder if Phil has actually done any exploration of what others have done on the sim. It reads like he’s just depending on the (severely lacking) SDK documentation. Even the MS Top Gun F/A-18E has a working air brake and tail hook. Carriers aren’t included in free flight but there are add-ons to enable the MS carriers, there are commercial add-on moving carriers, and there are freeware carriers. You’d think Phil and team would want to support this stuff to make the product more attractive. It’s not required, certainly, to support third-party add-ons, but you’d think you’d look at the ecosystem and see what would make your product more attractive.

I want Virtavia to succeed here. I want that F4D Skyray. I want an F3H Demon, a B-36, and so many of the other awesome planes they’ve done over the years. But those manual comments read like they downloaded MSFS and ignored the ecosystem, resources like FSDeveloper, etc. I hope this stuff gets fixed and that future products reach the state off the art established by devs like IndiaFoxTecho and DC Designs, so that Virtavia is successful enough to keep their library growing.

[tommieboy]

I think Phil is just getting up to speed with MSFS, so these issues appear to be teething pains, and not the end game.

Tommy

[DennyA]

I hope so. He’s made awesome stuff in the past. But these are things that should have been figured out before taking money.

[Priller]

Has anyone found any repaints for this?

Priller

[ZsoltB]

[tommieboy]

This might be old news to some, but the first time I've heard of this.

https://youtu.be/HersvTbNdC0

Tommy

[ZsoltB]

[FlameOut]

@ tommieboy,

Your posting of that link was a marvelous story. I do not remember that event.

[Navy Chief]

At least for me, the update did not fix the handling of the aircraft on takeoff. Still wants to tip over. NC

[Priller]

I did some **** and the manual said that for takeoff, a fair amount of back stick is required. Which I did et voilà!

Priller

[jmig]

If this is the same Phil from the Alphasim days (I think he went by AlphaPhill), I have a little negative history with the man and personally don't think much of him as a listener. They came out with a F-5, which is a single seat T-38 with slightly more powerful engines and a radar. I wrote to them criticizing the flight model. Apparently to the FM developer the F-5 could go supersonic in a vertical climb.

When I pointed out the Phil that I highly doubted this was true in RL as I had flown the T-38 and had friend who had flown the F-5 in SEA. (We had once talked about the differences over a few beers.) He wrote back to me tell me I was full of sh%t. I have never purchased an Alphasim product since then and was not surprised, based on my experience with the man, when they went belly up.

I did feel badly for Frank at the time. I like him and consider him to be a decent fellow, unlike his boss.

If this is too blatantly politically incorrect and honest Tom, feel free to trash my post. It took me 10-15 years to tell this story, it is now off my chest. Oh, I am not planning on buying the A4 unless someone else develops one.

[DennyA]

Anyone have a changelog for the updates to the Skyhawk? (Or impressions?) Still wavering on getting this or waiting on Dino's (which I'll definitely buy either way), and curious if Phil figured out how airbrakes work yet...

Also, ZSoltB, are those A-4 liveries available for download yet? Beauties!

[ColoKent]

The latest version still seems to tip over on takeoff...

Kent

[ZsoltB]

[fallenphoenix1986]

Shame about the airbrakes but it has potential, had it for FSX but not fired that up in years.

Would love to get at least FSX level of carrier functionality back and start bouncing it off the Melbourne once the flight model gets sorted.

[ZsoltB]

[ZsoltB]

[ZsoltB]

As there is no proper Virtavia A-4 Skyhawk category for uploading paintings flightsim.to does not allow me to upload

[jankees]

As there is no proper Virtavia A-4 Skyhawk category for uploading paintings flightsim.to does not allow me to upload

Can't you upload under the 'other textures' category?

[DennyA]

Confirmed with Phil that the speed brakes have been implemented in the 1.2 update, so I bought it and can confirm they do indeed work as you'd expect them to. Now you can fly a realistic approach.

Tried to use the IndiaFoxtEcho carrier add-on to confirm that the hook's working okay now, but I suck at carrier approaches without a proper ball to call, so I can't verify one way or another. But that's not Virtavia's fault, it's my mediocre Naval flying skills.

Hook questions aside, the flight model feels good and the visuals are nice as well. Happy with my purchase as a Naval jet fan.

ZSoltb, there's an "other" category you can use.

[ZsoltB]

Can't you upload under the 'other textures' category?

Did not allow

[ZsoltB]

[jmbiii]

Did not allow

Zsolt,
There's always SOH, isn't there?

[Priller]

Zsolt, could you do a repaint of this bird like this photo?



Thanks for considering this.

Priller

[DennyA]

ZSoltB, got your liveries off FS.to and they're beautiful! Thanks as always for your hard work and for sharing your talent!

Never did manage a successful carrier landing, but honestly, I save those for DCS because while the MSFS carriers look good, they're just too much a simplification of the actual landing process (and missing so many of the aids even WW2 pilots had) to make me feel like I'm doing anything resembling real ops in this sim anyway.

Back stick definitely helps de-squirrel the takeoff!

Now we just need a Blue Angels paint for this baby... Nobody should ever release a plane the BAs flew without including a livery, gorramit!