Introduction With the recent release of the excellent Project Fokker F-28, even the mighty Avsim Library servers struggled to keep up with the demand of the flight simulation community for this delightful aircraft. In a matter of days, this file was subjected to over 25,000 downloads; add this to the 314,000 downloads that its sister project the Fokker F-100/70 has logged (making it by far the most popular file in the library), it seems you guys really like flying well made twin jet airliners. So, have you all flown the wonderful David Maltby BAC 1-11 series too? If not, this review is aimed at you! Back in the heady days of FS2000, before the advent of virtual cockpits and autogen, one of my favorite airliners was the BAC 1-11 made by Mr. David Maltby. Partly because (for the standards of the day) it was extremely accurate in every way; and partly because it was in this type of aircraft I made my first commercial flight (to Malta), as a young Air Cadet in 1973. It was while inspecting the new F-28, I thought I would check out the current version of David’s BAC 1-11, which was updated at the end of 2006, and see how it compared with the new Project Fokker aircraft.
History…the real BAC 1-11 The story of the BAC 1-11 is a typical story of British commercial aviation, a good aircraft but lacking that certain ‘spark’ that would turn it into a real world beater. A total of 244 1-11 aircraft were built, 235 in Britain and a further 9 under license in Romania. Despite this relatively small number of airframes, the 1-11 has been registered in over 50 countries and used by over 200 operators. The aircraft was used successfully by a variety of US based operators (unusually for a British design), including Braniff, who became the launch customer in the USA. The aircraft was eventually driven out of airline service because of the noise of its Rolls Royce Spey engines (the same engines as on the Fokker F-28, incidentally); despite the addition of hush-kits, it could not pass the strict noise abatement laws introduced at the start of the 21st century. The aircraft can still be seen occasionally in the UK, as various agencies attached to the UK Ministry of Defence still employ the aircraft; as the military are exempt from the noise restrictions imposed on commercial operators. The aircraft also still operates in some African countries, but it is unlikely that this will continue for very much longer, mainly due to its age and serviceability problems in this hostile environment. History…the FS model
When I first became interested in this hobby, one of the main attractions for me was the discovery that I could add aircraft of my choice, in addition to the MS default aircraft. On getting an internet connection, the name David Maltby was one of the first add-on designers I became familiar with and I downloaded all that he had to offer. David specializes in British airliners and in addition to the BAC 1-11, has also made models of the DH Comet, the DH Trident and the Vickers VC-10. Now the bad news…..David will not be making any more new aircraft! The good news however, is that he will continue to develop and improve his current fleet of aircraft. At one time, David was not a great lover of the virtual cockpit. He stated that he was ‘never likely to ever build such a thing’. Much to his fans’ delight, David has not only made virtual cockpits for the BAC 1-11 and HS Trident, he has made virtual cockpits that are the equal of the very best payware cockpits available for MSFS! Although the basic models are now over 6 years old and (in MSFS terms) positively ancient, this constant adding and improving has more than adequately made up for their age. This aircraft update made last year included a new panel and virtual cockpit for the BEA/BA aircraft that utilized slightly different instrumentation from standard production models and also included improvements to all models, such as co-pilot call outs and cockpit alarms. Rather like the F-28, this aircraft is of the pre-digital era and if you must have your FMC and CRTs, look elsewhere, this aircraft is not for you. If you want to fly a superbly crafted replica of an attractive airline that will cost you nothing except your download time (and a possible voluntary donation to help with server costs)... read on! From the inside One of the most impressive things about this designer is the fact that the gauges and panels have been made ‘in house’, by David himself. The flight deck will look very familiar to anybody who has an interest in civil aviation of the mid to late 20th century. Neat rows of pretty analogue dials and an awful lot of switches and knobs, all exact replicas of the real thing……and almost all fully functional!
Within the usual restrictions of MSFS, David has modeled all the systems on the original aircraft; if they are not modeled in MSFS, they will still at least move and give the illusion of working. For those of you who like to do everything ‘by the book’, he has included a button that will select all the systems to a ‘cold and dark’ mode and allow start-ups to be taken straight back to item one on your checklist, in a single mouse click. With the latest upgrade, almost all of the levers and knobs are now fully ‘mouseable’ and the 1-11 can be flown from the virtual cockpit from start-up to shutdown, if required. In 2D mode, you have pop-up panels for all the consoles and a very neat interactive checklist that will turn each item from a "cross" to a "tick" whenever the item has been adjusted or switched to the correct position. The elevator trim on this aircraft is very critical at take-off, so as well as the interactive checklist, if you increase power to take-off levels with the incorrect trim, a loud warning horn will sound.
Take off speed call-outs now emanate in a very British voice at the correct speeds, according to the aircraft loads. A simple click on the chinagraph pad in both the 2D and 3D cockpit panels will display ‘V’ speeds according to the aircraft weight at any given time in the flight. All the panels and a great amount of the interior have been built using real photographs from the aircraft on display at the Brooklands Museum, just south of London in the UK. David had assistance in this aspect of the design (as well as some research work) from his friend and fellow British aviation expert David Booker.
With all this detail, most people would expect an average PC system to struggle in the VC mode. I have several expensive payware aircraft that are almost impossible to use in conjunction with complex add-on airport scenery. Happily, the BAC 1-11 does not suffer in the slightest from this affliction; in fact it runs faster and smoother than most of the default MS virtual cockpits! To illustrate my point, the two shots below were taken using the default Lear and the BAC 1-11 while running FlightZone 02-Portland at maximum complexity and a traffic setting of 60%. In VC mode, the 1-11 had an average advantage of 2 FPS on the default aircraft, with total smoothness. If only all virtual cockpits could be so well done, we could save a fortune on hardware!
Amongst David’s interesting additions are a mouse click area in the VC (just below the main instrument panel shield) that will allow you to use your mouse to pan (at great speed) around the cockpit to check things, rather than the normal and rather slow joystick hat method. He has now reintroduced passenger window views too, for those who like to replay their landings from the passenger’s prospective. So, on the cockpit front, I think the BAC 1-11 compares rather well with the F-28. It may not have those rather nice pushback and taxi speed gauges, but it does have one of the best virtual cockpits I have ever seen.
From the outside For a model that can trace its origins back to FS2000, the current 1-11 has everything that one would expect of a ‘state of the art release’. Everything that you would expect to move does move: air stairs, doors, control surfaces and even the wings flex under high loading. The aircraft may not have opening access or engine maintenance panels; but I have never seen much point in these beyond the amusement factor of using them for the first (and often in my case) only time. Each model is very accurate in shape and size (there is quite a difference between the 200 and the 500 series) and later models also feature the famed ‘hush kits’, an attempt to keep the volume of the noisy engines within modern levels of acceptance. All the aerials that adorned aircraft of this vintage are in the correct place and they too add to the feel of this aircraft. If I had one criticism, it would be the brown tinted glazing in the cockpit windows; it may well be accurate but I do not like to see my flight crew wearing what appear to be brown or beige shirts while at work!
Flight Model As with the very best modelers in MSFS, David has had all his aircraft tested by people who have flown the real thing. Within all the usual restriction of PC flying, this fact really shows through here.
Every little element of performance mirrors the flight manuals of the real thing; it also has that all important feel of reality that makes a good model exceptional. The 1-11 is rather fun to fly ‘hands on’ and circuits can be flown in much the same way you would fly something like a Beech 200, only slightly faster. The auto pilot differs from the standard MS version and replicates as much as possible the original type fitted to the aircraft. So make sure you understand any differences before you take off! As with all airliners, it is important to read the manuals and David offers not only manuals and checklists via his website, he takes you on a flight, step by step and breaks down every sub-section of the aircraft system into easily digestible slices. Sounds As has been said above, along with the need for more efficient engines, the 1-11 was forced into retirement because of the sheer noise of her engines. The sound pack available for download to complement this aircraft illustrates this fact very well! Unless you are flying alone in the house or want to annoy your nearest and dearest, make sure you turn down your speakers before flying this aircraft! The music coming from the Rolls Royce Spey turbofans may not appeal to those of a nervous disposition, but in those days jets sounded like jets...not vacuum cleaners! To get some idea of what I am talking about, download the video of the BAC 1-11 on David’s website. He not only makes great aircraft models, he makes super MSFS videos too!
Repaints Each model download comes with between 5 and 10 paint schemes; however if that is not enough, the freeware painters of the world have taken advantage of the free texture template that is also available for download at David’s website. As I mentioned in the introduction, the 1-11 has served over 200 operators; prolific painter Garry Russell has created almost every one of these operators in superb detail and has uploaded them to the Avsim Library. A quick library search will yield a stunning 112 David Maltby BAC1-11 repaints, just painted by Garry! Among this amazing list, you will find exotic corporate aircraft, airlines that lasted only a matter of months before going bust, airlines that had five or six different schemes for the same airframe and several unusual government operations from all round the globe. I think it safe to say that you will never run out of re-paints for these aircraft.
Conclusions I started this review with the thought of comparing the David Maltby BAC 1-11 with the amazingly popular Project Fokker F-28. In the real world they both have the same configuration, the same engines and were pitched into a similar market place, at around the same time. In MSFS they are both examples of the very finest aircraft modeling we are privileged to enjoy; but I now think to compare and contest these two aircraft against each other would serve little purpose. True, I love flying the 1-11 from that gorgeous virtual cockpit but the Fokker Project has many exceptional and unique features that have made it so popular; it is also a real blast to fly! If you like the F-28, you will love the BAC 1-11. Unless you only ever fly in the virtual cockpit of the BAC 1-11 and refuse to change, you will love the F-28. The only fair conclusion I can come to is that we, as a community, are very lucky to have been blessed by these talented individuals who offer these two wonderful creations free of charge (which have taken years of effort to produce). In this case, we really can enjoy the very best of both worlds. |
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