I don’t usually have the highest praise for IFT, but I do believe in giving credit where it’s due:

IFT have been hard at work on a v2.0 paid upgrade of their already nicely modeled F-35.

BUT they’ve recently announced that they’re going to pull some of the features out of that paid upgrade and release them as a free update to the current version. And they’re doing it knowing full well it may cost them some lost sales on the v2 paid release!

That says a lot about their corp culture (and there are other past examples I could give).

In other good news, it seems their pending TA-4J will incorporate a CFD flight model (possibly a first for them?), which if done well will address my major complaint re their addons.

The Skyhawk is a fantastically fun aircraft when modeled well, so I’m now cautiously optimistic for this one!

4 minutes ago, UrgentSiesta said:

In other good news, it seems their pending TA-4J will incorporate a CFD flight model (possibly a first for them?), which if done well will address my major complaint re their addons.

Yes their Goshawk Certainly flies completely differently to the Just flight Hawk I’ve noticed.

I do like the way their MB 339 flies though.

16 minutes ago, jon b said:

Yes their Goshawk Certainly flies completely differently to the Just flight Hawk I’ve noticed.

I do like the way their MB 339 flies though.

Yep - the T-45 is one of my biggest disappointments. A shame, too, because the very good 3D model & textures were done by Blackbird/MilViz (who did the P3D simulation for the IRL USN). Not to mention that the relatively simple avionics on the 45 are woefully incomplete in the addon… ☹️

(One of) The nice things about the JF Hawk is that you can still treat it like a Goshawk and get it onto MilTechs SuperCarrier.

JF really improved their flight model with v2, as well. Just a top notch little fast jet addon, even after all these years!

It’s haven’t flown the MSFS 339 in a long, long time. But what I can say is that if you like it in MSFS, you’d love the also-IFT produced version in DCS World!

(I’m gonna have to drag that 339 out of the back of the hangar and see how it is these days 👍)

46 minutes ago, UrgentSiesta said:

JF really improved their flight model with v2, as well. Just a top notch little fast jet addon, even after all these years!

It’s haven’t flown the MSFS 339 in a long, long time. But what I can say is that if you like it in MSFS, you’d love the also-IFT produced version in DCS World!

(I’m gonna have to drag that 339 out of the back of the hangar and see how it is these days 👍)

The hawk is pretty much my default daily driver nowadays. I just love the V2 handling, they’ve tweaked the telemetry or done something because it talks so nicely to my motion rig it’s like nothing else in the sim, I swear I can feel each main leg suspension strut independently compress when touching down with a bit of into wind wing down.

The 339 would be in second place to the hawk but it always feels like I’m flying a real aircraft when I fly it, though not flown it for a while. I did have it in DCS but with the motion, control loading and VR it’s too much tweaking required (for me) to run 4 sims so just use MS24 now and dropped DCS XP12 & P3D although they’re still installed.

Also looking forward to the Skyhawk.

Another +1 for JF's Hawk from me, too. If you haven't yet dabbled in fast military jets, the Hawk is an excellent starting point.

9 minutes ago, Paul K said:

Surely not everybody was kung fu fighting.

Nor were they all fast as lightning. :)

8 minutes ago, UrgentSiesta said:

Nor were they all fast as lightning. :)

I know! That's even more daft.

10 hours ago, jon b said:

The hawk is pretty much my default daily driver nowadays. I just love the V2 handling, they’ve tweaked the telemetry or done something because it talks so nicely to my motion rig it’s like nothing else in the sim, I swear I can feel each main leg suspension strut independently compress when touching down with a bit of into wind wing down.

The 339 would be in second place to the hawk but it always feels like I’m flying a real aircraft when I fly it, though not flown it for a while. I did have it in DCS but with the motion, control loading and VR it’s too much tweaking required (for me) to run 4 sims so just use MS24 now and dropped DCS XP12 & P3D although they’re still installed.

Also looking forward to the Skyhawk.

Well, I have to extend my thanks to you. As shared, I've not flown either the 339 or Goshawk since shortly after they were released way back in v2020. So long ago that IIRC, the 339 was the first (or so) payware mil jet available for v2020(!). They were quite disappointing and I basically never tried them again.

Since you said you enjoyed the 339 only somewhat less than the Hawk, I re-installed the latest versions of both the 339 and Goshawk. And all I can say is they're much better than they were in regards handling and other stuff - as far as I can tell from a couple short flights. If they could just fix the touchdown and post-touchdown ground physics (which may be in the works as the 2024 re-works are in the works), these birds would be quite entertaining! Once they're airborne, though, they're pleasant to fly - much more so than I remember from 6 years ago!

I meant to fly the Hawk right after the Goshawk, but I jumped to the IS T-38A instead. And that reminded me how fond I am of it even tho it tries to kill me every time I fly it ;)

Appreciate the motivation to try those two old addons once again - you've given them back to me!

A small finders fee ?🤣

I tried the goshawk again recently back to back with the hawk and didn’t think much of it to be honest.

Yes the 339 might have been the first add on I bought for 2020 and it was very vanilla back then. At some point they obviously upgraded the flight model as I tried it again a couple of years later and it just felt right ( as you say once it’s in the air) Things like slow flight and spins felt realistic and it would trim out and hold height well.

But yes, there’s nothing really that comes close to the hawk, I particularly appreciate the way it tracks straight down the runway on a touch and go rather than requiring a dance on the rudder pedals.

I think it’s had a fair bit of input from ex RAF guys.

Of course the ideal solution would be if just flight made a Goshawk expansion pack for the hawk !

3 hours ago, Paul K said:

Another +1 for JF's Hawk from me, too. If you haven't yet dabbled in fast military jets, the Hawk is an excellent starting point.

And finishing point ! Unless you want fancy avionics and radars nothing flies as well IMHO.🙂

51 minutes ago, jon b said:

A small finders fee ?🤣

I tried the goshawk again recently back to back with the hawk and didn’t think much of it to be honest.

Yes the 339 might have been the first add on I bought for 2020 and it was very vanilla back then. At some point they obviously upgraded the flight model as I tried it again a couple of years later and it just felt right ( as you say once it’s in the air) Things like slow flight and spins felt realistic and it would trim out and hold height well.

But yes, there’s nothing really that comes close to the hawk, I particularly appreciate the way it tracks straight down the runway on a touch and go rather than requiring a dance on the rudder pedals.

I think it’s had a fair bit of input from ex RAF guys.

Of course the ideal solution would be if just flight made a Goshawk expansion pack for the hawk !

I haven't tried it in over a year. I found it required lots of trimming for changes in speed. I know this is a thing, but I was constantly on the trim and it felt a bit much, certainly much more than any other similar plane in the sim. It kind of hunted on the trim / speed I found.

Is it still like this?

1 hour ago, bobcat999 said:

Is it still like this?

The Hawk or the 339 ?

The hawk I find the hawk generally ok with the trim, I’m using a FFB stick so I’m quite sensitive to when it’s not in trim.

The 339 I’ve not flown in a while so I wouldn’t like to say but off the top of my head I don’t recall constant trimming but I could be wrong.

24 minutes ago, jon b said:

The Hawk or the 339 ?

The hawk I find the hawk generally ok with the trim, I’m using a FFB stick so I’m quite sensitive to when it’s not in trim.

The 339 I’ve not flown in a while so I wouldn’t like to say but off the top of my head I don’t recall constant trimming but I could be wrong.

The Hawk Jon. Based on your comment it sounds like it might be better then. I suppose the only way is to download the latest version and give it a go. I've not flown around Wales for a while anyway. 🙂

If it’s V2 you last flew I don’t think it’s been updated much since the V2 release, however if it was V1 there been a massive improvement with V2

3 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

The Hawk Jon. Based on your comment it sounds like it might be better then. I suppose the only way is to download the latest version and give it a go. I've not flown around Wales for a while anyway. 🙂

I find the Hawk a bit difficult to trim out, as well.

BUT especially given Jon’s note about FFB, I believe that might be more an issue of a spring-centered sim joystick than an issue with the addon itself.

This is a very common challenge with sim helicopter flight, too.

Essentially, the sim/addon has no way of knowing when YOU are moving the stick vs the springs moving the stick.

Most sim helos have some sort of trim BUTTON where it will immediately hold the virtual position of the stick despite the spring stick returning to center.

The fix for fixed wing, at least with JF, is to get the gross trim & power adjustments out of the way first, and then use the alt hold autopilot they tacked on to the EFB. 🤙