Kinda steep and Im not familiar with the makers but Ive been waiting for a better blackbird so I took a chance. Ive only got a few flights in but have had time to get a good look at her and ring it out a little.Exterior- Looks as good if not better than the other blackbird out there. Being all black details are hard to see but overall it looks good. Nice AB effects and the best parachute deployment animation Ive seen.Cockpit- At first I was dissapointed with the 2d. A little to comic book looking for my taste but its loaded. Just about anything you need to know is there with plenty of clickables and lots of color. Bunches of gauges..VR- Now here the panel looks really good. Low level red glow at night and overall the cockpit looks good. No rear seat. With active camera the vr really works wellFlight model. Feels right. I was worried it was going to be simplified but so far I realy like it. Has a heavy feel with slow rates. Acceleration is brisk but not like a slingshot. I have not been over 80 grand at mach 3 but at 50gs and mach 2 the plane was stable. Overall the fm feels good and more polished than the other blackbird.No hit at all on the framerates and gauges are quick. Overall Im happy with the blackbird but the price is steep. If you are a SR-71 fan its a must have. Lets face it there really isnt anything else to choose from. You probably already have the other blackbird and I can say its alot better. Im going to be wringing the sled out tonight so any questions feel free to ask.

With the SR-71 speed you will certainly be loosing the scenery behind in FS9, the scenery updates are simply not fast enough to keep pace. It will be interesting whether they finally catch up when you are ready to land. I hope so.Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/747400.jpghttp://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_beta_member.jpg

Not a problem.If you time accelerate while at high speed you will start to see the terrain blocks starting to fill out slowly. But then again at 80 grand and mach 3 this isnt exactly a sight seeing plane. This sucker is hard to slow down. From 60 thousand at mach 2.8, I began a decent 300 miles out. I was still at mach 1.5 100 miles out and without speed brakes all you can do is turn to bleed it off. If you have experience with either the other blackbird or the Concorde, you know the routine. Another cool thing. Go to an outside view while on the ramp and the plane drips fuel and puddles will form.

The SR-71 is out?!?!?WHY DO I ALWAYS MISS THE GOOD MEMOS?This is clearly Michal's fault. :)JJ, did you buy the DL or CD version?What's the difference between the two?

DL

I'd pretty much go along with that. The 2D panel does look a little cartoony and its obviously going for function rather than accuracy, but the VC is perfectly fine for this stallion of 60's technology.External model and flight model look and feel to be the best SR-71 to date. That it visibly leaks fuel on the ground is a nice touch.If you're a Habu fan, its a must.

>Another cool thing. Go to an outside view while on the ramp>and the plane drips fuel and puddles will form.Does it actualy reduce the amount of fuel in the tank? This was the reason there was always a tanker waiting by after takeoff to refuel her. In FS you don't have a KC-135 or KC-10 to do that, so do you have to top her off using the payload/fuel menu after takeoff?

I really doubt it. The readme explains the fuel burn is way off due to a afterburning limitation in fs9 or whatnot. I did a 800 mile run at 80 grand/mach 3 and only used 20% or so of my fuel. They did say they are working on it and maybe have refuelling capability later. This plane is really just a polished Alphasim done to todays standards. Dont expect PMDG or Realair standards all around. Its just a easy to get into and fly blackbird. The cockpit does have alot of cool functions and is packed. Landings are also tricky. I did however replace the sounds. External sounds are great but inside its way to quite. They explain that with all the gear on the pilots do not hear much but I need to hear a thunderous engine especially in this one.

Is anybody else having problems with the glideslope capture? Ive done 4 approaches at different runways and each time I do not catch it.Loc works fine but do not expect the plane to track it straight if your intercept angle is big.

I wonder if a Lieutenant Commander (As he was when I knew him?) Major Blair Bozek and Dan House whom were stationed at R.A.F. Mildenhall in Suffolk whom treated me and a few freinds to a 'VIP' visit to their aircraft in the '80's' would comment on this thread, if they read it?Blair was also, like me a motorcycle racing fan and enjoyed a holday at the 'TT races' in the Isle of Man.Or, for that matter, any other 'Habu's'?I have to say that the picture on the front of the video is highly un-original!The 'SR-71' (which should have been named the 'RS-71' [Reconnaisance Sattelite] but, 'Regan' cocked up at the naming ceremony so, they had to go with it) crew were dressed in the same clothing as Astronauts and the flying suits shown on the cover of the video were not of any of the Habu's?Come on in Blair or, Dan if you read this please?Dave T. .........On the lovely warm Devon Riviera and active 'FlightSim User's Group' member at http://www.flightsimgrpuk.free-online.co.uk/

>I wonder if a Lieutenant Commander (As he was when I knew>him?) Major Blair Bozek and Dan House whom were stationed at>R.A.F. Mildenhall in Suffolk whom treated me and a few freinds>to a 'VIP' visit to their aircraft in the '80's' would comment>on this thread, if they read it?>>Blair was also, like me a motorcycle racing fan and enjoyed a>holday at the 'TT races' in the Isle of Man.>>Or, for that matter, any other 'Habu's'?>>I have to say that the picture on the front of the video is>highly un-original!>>The 'SR-71' (which should have been named the 'RS-71'>[Reconnaisance Sattelite] but, 'Regan' cocked up at the naming>ceremony so, they had to go with it) crew were dressed in the>same clothing as Astronauts and the flying suits shown on the>cover of the video were not of any of the Habu's?>>Come on in Blair or, Dan if you read this please?>>Dave T. .........On the lovely warm Devon Riviera and active>'FlightSim User's Group' member at>http://www.flightsimgrpuk.free-online.co.uk/The movie is completely fiction and not based on the Blackbird at all. It was never supposed to be. The SR-71 by PILOT'S is more then likely just being used as an advertising tool and not some type of "example" of what you will see/saw in the movie.Though I must say, the SR-71 and it's relation to the "Stealth Movie" is somewhat misleading.

It was Pres. Lyndon Johnson on 25 July 1964 that made the wrong ID in the announcement not "Regan" (Actually "Reagan"). Regards, Bob.

>It was Pres. Lyndon Johnson on 25 July 1964 that made the>wrong ID in the announcement not "Regan" (Actually "Reagan").>Regards, Bob.Bob,I don't wish to start an argument but, are you telling me that a 'SR-71 Reconnaisance Officer's' statement is wrong?Dave T. .........On the lovely warm Devon Riviera and active 'FlightSim User's Group' member at http://www.flightsimgrpuk.free-online.co.uk/

"Bob,I don't wish to start an argument but, are you telling me that a 'SR-71 Reconnaisance Officer's' statement is wrong?" Dave; Don't know about the above, but just to give you some sort of reference..... I worked as a dispatcher at Offutt AFB, Base Ops.That would have been 1967-68; We had a '71 make an emergency landing. The plane was rushed into a hangar and surrounded by extreme security. Now when I say extreme, keep in mind that this was Strategic AirCommand Headquarters. After the problem had been fixed...the next morning I was working whenthe Pilot came in to Baseops and filed his flight plan. It read: Aircraft Type; YF12A Route; OFF-VFR Direct-BAB Altitude; FL300+ Speed; Mach 1+ After looking at it I said "Sir, I'm not sure Chicago Center willapprove this". He just smiled and said "Get ahold of Classified Routes, they'llaccept it". Well, we worked with the clasified routes section all the time...both for the"Looking Glass" aircraft and flights of the EC135's of the 55th StratRecon wing. So I contacted them and filed the plan, no problem. We went thru our shift change and after we were relieved went outto watch the takeoff, as at Offutt, Baseops didn't have a good view ofthe Runway. I have never seen anything quite like it. Just past midfield herotated, Nailed the AB, and began a near vertical climb. In what seemed just a few seconds we heard the Boom as he broke Mach 1 andthen he just dissapeared, still going straight up. I might add weather that morning was CAVU. I'm not sure when the craft became operational, but it had been around for a couple of years before the incident I just related. Also; as far I know during my time in the Air Force...1966-1970..they flew all of thier missions out of Beale AFB. Just thought Ya'll might be interested.Greetings from Smyrna GA:-wave Denny

>>It was Pres. Lyndon Johnson on 25 July 1964 that made the>>wrong ID in the announcement not "Regan" (Actually>"Reagan").>>Regards, Bob.>>Bob,>>I don't wish to start an argument but, are you telling me that>a 'SR-71 Reconnaisance Officer's' statement is wrong?>>Dave T. .........On the lovely warm Devon Riviera and active>'FlightSim User's Group' member at>http://www.flightsimgrpuk.free-online.co.uk/Bob is correct. It was Lyndon B. Johnson, not Ronald Reagan that made the announcment.Why would Reagan make a "Presidential Announcement" during 1964 if he wasn't the President? In fact, in 1964 Reagan was still an actor. ;)So yes, the "SR-71 Stregic Reconnaisance Officer" was incorrect.lol:)