There’s no OBOGS, no INS alignment, the MFD and HUD interfaces come right on, and there’s no attack radar, FLIR or other types of controls that you’d get with the higher end experience. There are plenty of things that are missing from that flow of course. In-fact, I used my usual flow and I was able to start the jet up right away without a problem. The same applies to the start-up sequence which has all of the basics of what I’m used to in the DCS Hornet. Asobo didn’t ram a G1000 in somewhere where one shouldn’t be so for the casual flier this is pretty close to an authentic cockpit. There are some differences between what I’m used to in the Charlie model in DCS but nothing is terribly out of place. Inside the cockpit, the aircraft once again looks the part and everything is where it should be. I wasn’t expecting all of that but it is there. The leading edge surfaces, the auto, takeoff and landing flaps, and even the hook and folding wings are modeled.
They didn’t skimp too much, however, as there are all of the basic features of the jet modeled. Here I don’t think the team quite nailed the visual appeal of the Hornet, however, it’s still pretty good and it holds up well unless you get a little too close and look at the details. That factory finish extends to the exterior of the model. Most of the default aircraft in the sim look the part and this one does too. Hopping into the cockpit, I can say that the team at Asobo does what they usually do in providing a nice clean factor finish aircraft that actually looks quite good.
More than that, prior versions of Flight Simulator have also featured the Hornet with many of the same limitations so in many ways this is a return to form for the series.įinally, this was not created to be or intended as a full fidelity simulation of the Super Hornet.
Next, the F/A-18E Super Hornet that they have put together is a free addition and one that was originally slated to be part of a movie tie in.
I’m not particularly upset by this as it is a civil aviation sim and they haven’t modeled any of the things that weapons would do to aircraft, ground targets, or the like so that’s not the focus. First, Microsoft Flight Simulator is not a combat sim and that goes so far as to say that they have official policy that aircraft will not carry weapons when sold in the official Marketplace. Setting expectationsīefore I get any further into this piece, I want to lay out what expectations you should have with this aircraft. So, now that I’ve flown the Hornet around a bit, I wanted to give some of my impressions of the jet and help set expectations when you hop into the cockpit for the first time. Originally intended to be launched as part of the Top Gun: Maverick movie tie in, the Hornet is coming early with the new Game of the Year edition of Microsoft Flight Simulator while the rest of the content awaits the release of the movie next year. So, when news came that the Asobo team were bringing the F/A-18E Super Hornet to Microsoft Flight Simulator, I was very excited to see another sim get a Hornet of some kind. Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m a big fan of the F/A-18 Hornet and that I’ve spent a lot of time flying the DCS: F/A-18C Hornet in that sim.