On Her Majesty’s Service | Black Box Simulations - Shorts Regional 330 / 360 | Full Review | MSFS
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 พ.ย. 2023
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In this video, we test out the Black Box Simulations Shorts 360 (included as part of the Shorts Regional Premium Package), within Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS).
We're operating a Manx Airlines charter, on behalf of the Royal Mail, taking the post from East Midlands (EGNX), over to the Isle of Man (EGNS).
Please note this video and all its contents / materials, is for entertainment / simulation purposes only.
PC Specs
ASUS Z790
Intel Core i9 13900K 5.8GHz
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
64GB DDR4 3600MHz
Hardware
Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog
Saitek Pro Flight rudder pedals
HP Reverb WMR headset
TrackIR5
Earthquake Shell Shoxx transducer
Enjoy the flight! - เกม
Hello everyone!
Please be advised that the first update for the product has since been released:
Changelog - V1.1 8/Nov/23
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Added - Yoke visibility switching CAP/FO
* Fixed - Hangar Livery image for Air Cargo Carriers 330
* Added - VR Collision mesh - ALL variants
* Fixed - duplicated switches - 330/360 Cargo
* Fixed - PAX Seat Materials - PAX models
* Fixed - 360 Pax Internal flags - Caused unlit multi LED indicators
* Fixed - AutoPilot Disengaged Tooltip - was showing AP Master status
* Fixed - Bendix King WX radar not booting up if mode knob moved too fast
* Added - 833Hz com tuning option available in Panel.xml files
* Improved - Narrowed Yokes and adjusted position
* Improved - Several Tooltips More Descriptive
- Wipers speed switch relabled
- WindShield OHeat Tests added
- Low Pressure / Fire Warning PTT Lamps
* Improved - DME mode selector switch Interactions
* Fixed - Starter Switches No TT Or Icons in Legacy Input Mode
* Improved - Lighting Knob Input Handling and Sync
* Fixed - Several Switches had reversed inputs using Legacy Input Mode
- Engine Fire Warning Test L/R
- Smoke Detectors Test L/R
- Landing Gear Horn Test
- AC Main Fan
- AC Gasper Fans
- AC Flight Comp Manual H/C
- AC Pax Comp Manual H/C
- Battery Master
- Light filament Test
- Deice Boot Timer
- Prop DeIce L/R
- WindShield OHeat Tests L/R
- Circuit Breaker Lights L/R
- Cabin Lights
- Emergency Light L/C/R
Cheers! : )
hey! Where can i find the checklist for this airplane?
Hi Francisco,
The checklist I was using, can be found over on Flightsim.to (it should be easy to find using the search function).
I hope that helps. All the best : )
I'd love to know what are your in game graphic settings, and your nvidia freestyle or reshade if you have it
Thank you!!
Hello SirCat,
There isn’t a whole lot to share in actuality: I basically have everything cranked up to Ultra and then spend a lot of time adjusting the weather / time within the sim (as those can make a huge difference to the way that MSFS looks), as well as trying to pick nice camera angles. I do also add a little bit of vignette to my external shots during editing (which could be done with the Nvidia in-game filters), but that’s about it! I am considering playing around more with the Nvidia filters in the future. . .
I hope that helps a little. All the best : )
Love the historic intro audio. Thanks for another well composed informative video. Cheers.
Thanks very much, Andy! I’m really glad you enjoyed the intro / video. My pleasure as always! Much appreciated and all the best : )
Pilot Pat.
Pilot Pat.
Pilot Pat and his black and white cat.
Haha! I was highly tempted to use that song during the intro, Ruben but, I figured it would (sadly) just result in a copyright strike from TH-cam. I was also really hoping that Got Friends might have a black and white furry co-pilot but, no joy there either XD
Cheers, all the best! : )
That Royal Mail livery looks stunning! Worth noting as well about the price that BlackBox has split the premium edition into individual variants that you can buy separately for a lower price.
Yes, it’s a really nice livery, isn’t it Oliver (it looks great on all of the aircraft I’ve seen it on)!
It’s a good point re the pricing; it would be a shame to own one variant and not the other but, I think purchasing a single variant, brings the pricing closer to what I had in mind for the product.
Cheers and all the best : )
Nice review. I subscribed and now have you bookmarked. You asked for my comments on the '330 in real life. I flew it in both seats and received my first type rating in it. It taught me a lot! Yes, that trailing landing gear style design made for nice landings. I don't remember a really bad one. The flat belly helped too, enhancing ground effect. The bad thing about the flat belly was that it loved to collect ice. There was one night when we logged two hours. At the same time, I acquired two years of flight 'experience'. Didn't sleep much that night either, as I recall.
Crosswinds! A 15 kt crosswind was a fight to the finish. Really took two pilots to perform if it was the Captain's landing. After touchdown, you needed to put full aileron in towards the upwind wing, just like a Cessna. Still, the thing would be tilting downwind, maybe three degrees. Being Captain, my right hand is on the throttles and at some point, I need to remove my left hand from the yoke and onto the tiller. Solution - make sure you brief your Copilot to back you up on the yoke after landing. I was told that the '360 was a little better in this regard.
It's very stable on smooth air approaches, as you mentioned. That cockpit escape door you show on your exterior shots...it leaked. Maybe there is a reason it was placed on the Copilot's side! I'll bet that every SD3 still flying has some napkins, etc, stuffed up in that door seal.
It was a bit heavy on the controls, but not a big problem. In '84, I interviewed for a "Major Airline". During the process, they put me in an ancient 707 sim...it flew just like the '330 and I was right at home! Flew for them for 25 years, not in a 707, of course. (I'll take a 757 any day, tho)
Thank you very much 9deebee, both for the info and the sub!
Icing always seems to get a mention, when I speak to guys who flew the Shorts haha. It sounds as though the aircraft was a bit of an ice magnet and you can see why when you look at the design of the thing (and then realise it’s also going to be bashing around in all the weather to boot!). Your recollection of the crosswind handling behaviour is certainly interesting, as Black Box seem to have put in a pretty decent effort at mimicking that.
I’m glad the video brought back some good (and not so good haha) memories! Many thanks for sharing and welcome aboard : )
I’ve just realised it looks like a helicopter with wings
One of their efforts looks like a bungalow with wings ... 😂😂😂
Take a look at the osprey then look at the sherpa even more resemblance
Haha! I never saw that before but, it most certainly does! XD
Love your content, and usually use it for my own familiarization and training purposes! Thank you sir!!
Thanks very much, Ken! I’m really glad you’re enjoying the content and also finding the videos useful : )
My absolute pleasure. Much appreciated and all the best!
Good review. It should help the developer to fix the bugs. Seems like this is another example of a fine aircraft released without any thorough testing and left to good reviewers to find the bugs. With some updates I would buy it.
He says this is a pre-release review copy. Beta copies have bugs. Even the release copy usually gets an early update! If you want a perfect aircraft wait a couple of months.
Actually Derek, in this particular case, it was a release copy. As you say though, BBS have already put out an update and will hopefully continue to do so : )
Cheers and all the best!
Thanks very much, David. Certainly, there is solid / enjoyable addon there at the core but, for sure, there were a number of scrappy bugs that somehow managed to slip through.
Black Box have already put out 1 update. I’m sure there will be more to come but, you’re probably looking at a few more months, before everything has been ironed out.
Cheers and all the best!
Pacific Coastal Airlines in Vancouver operated 360’s for quite awhile. They also operated the Grumman Goose until not too many years ago.
nice plane for the powell river run. took it a few times
thanks for another great video, always top notch quality!
My absolute pleasure, Nik! Thanks very much for watching, I’m really glad you enjoyed the flight : )
Cheers!
Loving your videos! I like the way you calmy fly a DME arc, without getting bogged down with it.
Thanks very much, John!
I’m really glad you’re enjoying the content! Much like the proverbial duck, it often feels as though I’m thrashing away below the surface haha; it’s usually the commentary that throws me off though ha.
Much appreciated once again : )
My first flight ever (SLF) was on a Guernsey Airlines Shorts 330 so I have fond memories of the type. Thanks for the review.
My pleasure on the video, Speedbird - I’m glad it brought back some nice memories : )
Thanks for watching and all the best!
such a great video. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Donald! I’m really glad you enjoyed the flight. My pleasure and all the best : )
Excellent review... as always.
Thank you very much once again, Gumper! I’m really glad you enjoyed the flight : )
Cheers!
GREAT flight Captain. It's frustrating to see so many little things not corrected upon release. Anyway, good to be along with some "old school" flying. Thanks and cheers! !! !!!
Thanks very much, Mark! Yes, it’s surprising to see these sorts of bugs slip through testing (I don’t know how some of them get missed) but, there’s a solid addon there at the end of the day and Black Box have put out some very extensive updates for some of their previous products (so I’d like to think that most of the Shorts’ issues will be corrected).
I’m glad you enjoyed the flight! Thanks very much as always : )
I am very tempted to call this plane ugly but I won't. I must think for a while about the feelings I get looking at this plane. Maybe I can turn it around and see the "inner beauty" of this.
Haha! For me, the Shorts is one of those very few aircraft, that somehow manages to look both ugly and yet *somewhat* beautiful at the same time. I think it’s a plane of 2 halves, with the front section actually looking quite slick, whilst the rear section looks like a bit of an afterthought haha. In terms of “inner beauty”, I’m not sure you will find much there either XD
Cheers, all the best!
I used to sometimes fly in the Air UK 360s from Heathrow to Norwich after the long flights home from Asia in the 1980s. It was a very comfortable aircraft, if I remember correctly - the cabin seemed huge! I have Blackbox's Islander v2 and enjoy it, so I daresay the 330/360 package will find its way into my sim at some point.
Very nice, Paul. Lucky that you didn’t have to make the entire journey back from Asia in a Shorts haha! I seem to recall reading, that Shorts tried to emulate a typical passenger jet with their cabin (so just as wide but, obviously quite a lot shorter). I like Black Box’s aircraft and while I do think that the Shorts is a bit pricey for what it is, the package is certainly well worth considering in a sale etc.
Cheers and all the best!
Hello thanks for your videos I love these
My absolute pleasure, Hunter! I’m really glad you’re enjoying the content. Many thanks and all the best! : )
Thank you for posting and narrating. Now I have more reasons to fly.
My absolute pleasure, REB! That’s brilliant to hear; certainly, one of the main reasons that I run the channel, is to get more people up into the virtual skies, inspire them with some flight ideas, etc.
Happy flying! Cheers and all the best : )
I've been looking into this aircraft a bit recently and it looks like a really nice addon. There are Shorts 360's that operate in my area, occasionally flying over my house, so I'm excited that Black Box developed this. Will be adding it to my hangar sometime soon. It's a shame that it doesn't come with visible cargo. I'd like to see cargo aircraft come with visible cargo as a standard in the future so we can load and unload to help immersion with our cargo runs.
Hi JB,
Yes, whilst not visually stunning, the Shorts is otherwise a very nice addon overall. Further to that, Black Box recently lowered the price of the aircraft, which is great of course and makes the package much more appealing overall. I do agree though - some visible cargo would be nice. . .
I do hope you enjoy the aircraft, as and when you pick it up! Happy flying and all the best : )
Great presentation...... Thank you for your time.....The Shorts will be my next purchase, I'm really looking forward to it although the procedures seem complex... Roger.... Pembrokeshire
Thank you very much once again, Roger - my absolute pleasure!
I do hope that you’re enjoying the Shorts (and getting to grips with the aircraft). It’s a nice addon overall and it’s great to see that Black Box has reduced the price (I think they did that before you purchased).
Happy flying and all the best! : )
@@IntotheBlueSimulations Thank you so much for your response.... Yes I am enjoying the Shorts, despite it being complex for me (I try to do correct procedures, hence taking great interest in your channel). I wish you all the best... Regards Roger
Fantastic video as always, Will you be showing the updated version also and the updated cockspur Mustang?
Best regards
Thank you very much David, I’m really glad you enjoyed it!
I definitely plan on featuring the Shorts again at some point; I’d like to get some British Midland liveries made up for the aircraft and then I’ll record another video based around those. The Mustang is on my radar but, it’s not a priority at the moment (with a backlog of so many other addons to review haha!).
Cheers and all the best! : )
Another good video and a good way to end the week and as usual informative and educational . I simply can not afford this at this time amfraid
Cheers Mike! I’m very glad to hear that the video made for decent end-of-the-week entertainment haha : )
I certainly wouldn’t expect everyone to buy every addon I review! Hopefully, the videos help people to choose where to put their money but, that’s why I try and make the flights interesting in their own right also (so that people may wish to watch, whether or not they are actually interested in the product).
All the best! : )
Yet another aircraft I've flown in following your DC3 and Chipmunk reviews. In the 80's, I flew in a BMI Shorts 360 on a flight from East Midland Airport to Edinburgh on a business trip. First having to endure the comments from other passengers on other flights saying how they felt sorry for the passengers going in "the furniture van" to Edinburgh. To me it was great, as I loved flying in "real" aircraft rather than Boeing "Spam Cans". Of course, EMA in the 80's had no freight terminals, Parcel Warehouse's or wind turbines. The flight was superb, a beautiful sunny clear spring day with no turbulence. The cruising height was 10k feet, and the stewardess came around and handed out boiled sweets to relieve blocked ears, pressurisation Shorts thought was for sissies. Flying over the Lake District and the Scottish Borders was delightful with excellent views due to the ac's high wing config. A truly memorable aircraft to have flown in..
Ah lovely stuff, CC! I have a bit of a soft spot for the Shorts, because of its BM / bmi connections but, I never had the chance to fly on one myself. I was a bit disappointed to see that no Midland livery was included with the package - I will probably knock one up myself at some point. I’m sure it would have made for a memorable flight; cruising low and slow over the scenery, is not an experience one really gets to have anymore. It sounds like you were lucky it was a smooth day though, I gather the Shorts could get a bit bumpy haha XD
Many thanks for sharing and all the best!
Great video as always. I have been waiting to pull the trigger and now have seen a price reduction. $35 for the premium and $19 for the individual 330 for 360. Great price now. Going to grab the 360.
Thanks very much Mich, glad you enjoyed it!
Many thanks also for the pricing info; I wasn’t aware that BBS had reduced the price - it certainly makes the Shorts much better value for money.
Happy flying and all the best! : )
Good Stuff!👍
Thanks very much, MP! I’m really glad you enjoyed it : )
All the best!
Great video - thanks. My first job on gaining a cpl was on the 3-30 (Metropolitan Airways) - thoroughly enjoyed it. How are you selecting BETA range on your thrust levers - I can't see any provision for it in MSFS Control set up?
My pleasure MA, cheers!
Very nice. It seems like quite a few people got their first break on the Shorts haha (I certainly know of a few individuals in the same boat); it sounds like it was a great aircraft for building experience.
Personally, I have a button assigned to “decrease throttle setting” (or something or that effect). I close my throttles and then hold down that button (thus engaging reserve thrust / beta range) and that seems to work pretty well with most aircraft.
I hope that helps a little. Cheers and all the best!
Interested in the product when it gets to the marketplace and with some discount...till then nice plane!
I bought this because your thumbnail of the lovely red Royal Mail livery kept popping up in my feed and I ended up with gear lust. Despite the rough edges, this plane is a lot of fun. Theres just something about about the way it handles, its size, speed, stability. Powerful, but slow enough that it’s a bit more of a relaxing flight. Switching the AP on feels disappointing because you want to keep hand flying it. I can highly recommend it to anyone wanting whose interest has been caught by it’s funny looks. Or anyone just wanting a turboprop. Only thing I don’t like is the delay on the brakes responding.
Haha! There is definitely “something” about the DataPost livery, isn’t there FFAM. Anyway, I’m really glad you’re enjoying the aircraft and I very much agree with your assertions.
Happy flying and all the best! : )
Great video again!!! and brilliant intro. Where did you get the livery?
comes with it.
Thanks very much SFS, I’m really glad you enjoyed it!
The livery is indeed included with the package itself, you just need to make sure that you have the cargo version of the S360 selected : )
I hope that helps. All the best!
Hello again my friend. Thank you for your time and great effort to bring a simulation to life as you do; very professional as always. I'm not really into, "Flying Box Cars" however, it does have that interesting aspect of age practicality I do enjoy. I'm more of a Fighter, Bush or intermediate jet flyer, but the odd and weird do seem to resonate with me. Black Box does seem to continue to bring us simulation enthusiast's these types of AC, of which I'm grateful. I think I might take a stab at this one, even though I believe the price to be a little steep. Please give them a thank you for me and once again, thank you for your time and effort. Stay safe in God's Atmosphere.
Hello OutCast, many thanks for the kind words!
Yes, Black Box do seem to give us the weird and the wonderful, which I’m all for (although the Trislander remains just a bit too “weird” for me haha)! I have a soft spot for the Shorts, as I do have a bit of a connection to it but, either way, BBS have done a pretty nice job with it overall. The price is a bit steep for what it is, I agree but, you can purchase individual variants at a reduced price, which may be the way to go. . .
My absolute pleasure on the video(s)! Happy flying and all the best : )
It is perfect ;-)
I’m really glad you’re enjoying the aircraft, Brian! Happy flying and all the best : )
Fair review, textures are quite basic and the cockpit graphics are low quality. The plane does not have a garmin530 but a Garmin 400 for reasons beyond my imagination. Overall quite disappointing as systems are very well modeled so it would have been a great addon with better graphics and modern avionics.
Thanks Luis, I’m glad you felt I broadly hit the nail on the head. Yes, I did make a mistake regarding the Garmin; I don’t know why my brain defaulted to “530” haha but, what I really meant was that it has a “default” GNS unit (and no option for a GTN switch-out).
Texturing does still seem to be a weakness of the BBS products. I would have liked to have seen more visual fidelity but, I don’t expect we’ll see any major enhancements to the product in that regard.
Cheers and all the best!
Hi there, another great video, but I was just wondering if I might be missing something on this aircraft as there appears to be no checklists or any sign of documentation or a manual online!! Hence I’m not able to get very far at present. Are there any learning aids, manuals or checklists to your knowledge? Thanks in advance. Andy
Hi Andy,
Apologies for the slow reply. You’ll find a “Documents” folder, inside your main Shorts 330 / 360 installation folder (located in you sim’s community folder). That will contain the aircraft manual and a quick-start guide. The quick-start guide is missing quite a few steps (if memory serves me correctly) so, I recommend downloading a checklist for the aircraft; there is a decent freeware checklist available over on Flightsim.to (which is the one I used in this video).
I hope that helps. Happy flying and all the best! : )
Very nice video. I am optimistic that Blackbox will improve this with updates as they did with the Islander, which, you may recall, was average at best on its initial release.
For the opening sequence on airmail delivery, it's too bad you couldn't get one of those old British Pathe narrators with the high pitched voice who used to say things like "Yes, the Yanks are here and every man Jack of them is eager to give Herr Hitler a proper bloody nose with their spanking new Flying Fortresses. Go get 'em, boys." You know, those guys.
Personally, I thought the opening sequence was perfect as was. A Pathe voice wouldn't remotely make sense for a Datapost livery given that Datapost only existed through the first half of the 1980s.
Thanks very much Jay, I’m glad you enjoyed the vid! I suspect / hope you’re correct regarding the Shorts being updated (the Islander was indeed decidedly “average” when it first released haha - Black Box have come a long way in MSFS : )
Haha! I very much know the sort of narrator you’re referring to. Whilst I’m all for that sort of thing, the DataPost ad was actually correct for the time period / aircraft ; )
Cheers and all the best!
They've certainly got room for Garmin 750's in that big empty space below the radio altimeters I suppose their argument will be that the real aircraft never had it.
Got to add that I'm also disappointed in the lack of in-game checklists particulary in an aircraft of it's relative complexity. Hopefully that will come in a future update.
Whilst I doubt anybody has ever bothered to fit a GTNXi to a Shorts 330 / 360 haha, personally I don’t mind these sorts of things being “retrofitted” in the sim (so long as there is always the option to remove it). It’s not an inconceivable modification and the GTNXi is so much more user friendly than the included Garmin (+ helps make up for the lack of EFB).
Personally, I don’t use the in-game checklists but, there’s no reason for a dev not to include them and they are a helpful aide for many. As you say, hopefully such checklists will be included in a future update.
Cheers, all the best!
Nicely done on the flight and review, as always. Great touch with the Datapost ad in the beginning. I have to agree that for the price, even if the majority of switch issues are fixed this doesn't seem to deliver as much as other similarly priced add-ons. The engine sounds impressed me and it does seem like a good hand-flyer. But the texture work is just too basic. Interesting aircraft though and I'll reconsider if they up their game with this.
Thanks very much, Dan! I’m glad you enjoyed the flight and the DataPost vibes haha.
Yes, Black Box have come a long way in MSFS but, the texturing work on their products still tends to fall below more modern standards; I don’t think it’s from a lack of trying, probably more a lack the required skills in that area (I don’t mean that as any sort of slight, we all have our strengths and weaknesses!). It would certainly be nice if BBS could hand over their texturing to someone else, as otherwise, they have a very solid product in the Shorts 330 / 360. If nothing else, the addon is certainly worth another look as and when you come across it on sale ; )
Cheers and all the best! : )
Once again an excellent presentation on an aircraft I really like from ‘back in the day’. Any ideas when it’s coming to Xbox?
Thanks very much Grae, I’m really glad you enjoyed it!
I’m afraid I’ve not been informed, as to if / when the aircraft will be making its way onto the console. If the rest of Black Box’s lineup is available on the Xbox, then I would imagine the same will be true for the Shorts also. As for dates, usually an addon will arrive on the Marketplace, about 2-4 weeks after the initial release of the product.
I hope that helps a little. Cheers and all the best : )
I agree. The cockpit textures are a bit below par, but I'm happy with the rest of it.
Haha. That would be a very concise summation of my own thoughts, Jekanyika - I could have made this review much shorter! : P
Cheers, all the best : )
Are you certain in terms of the incorrect orientation of switches?
I ask because our Lufthansa Boeings also always had 180 degrees turned switches.
Our company philosophy is that you want to turn off systems by pushing them forward instead of pulling them.
Have a look on cockpit pictures of DLH B737 Classics for example.
Great video as always my friend!
Hi e36,
I’m certain but, perhaps I didn’t articulate my point very well haha. I know what you’re getting at; what I was trying to point out, is that with the BBS Shorts, there are quite a lot of switches where you click down (and the arrow pointer shows a downwards selection) and the switch then moves up haha. This happens on about 30-50% of the cockpit switches so, either way, something’s not quite right (and it gets a bit confusing). . .
I hope that clarifies things? Many thanks and all the best! : )
Great effort here, I always buy anything by that developer. Only one issue for me is the lack of drag on approach and landing, hoping they will address this soon
For a flying box, it really doesn’t like to produce drag does it
Thank you very much once again, sir!
I too, tend to enjoy Black Box’s output although, I do wish they would outsource their texturing (the only thing that really holds their addons back, in my opinion). It’s a strange one re the drag (and also ground effect for some); I had no issues slowing the aircraft down and ground effect seemed pretty normal also. There seems to be a number of bugs that don’t carry over from one variant to another so, I wonder whether the 360 cargo variant’s flight model, isn’t better than some of the other versions of the aircraft. . . As you say, hopefully Black Box will address the issues (I suspect they will).
I do hope your flying adventures are treating you well! All the best : )
Working circuit breakers are just smoke and mirrors and a waste of development time as long there are no failures to trip them.
I can see where you’re coming from Jigsaw but, I think if there are associated systems effects by actuating the CB’s, that sort of modelling is still nice to have - failure modelling is always preferable though.
All the best!
Is this on the marketplace yet? As in, the one inside MSFS?
Also, do we have a price yet?
Hi GB,
I’m afraid I’m not sure whether the addon has made its way onto the Marketplace yet. Given that the rest of Black Box’s lineup is available directly in-game, I would image that it’s only a matter of time before the Shorts finds its way there also. The “Premium” package (including all aircraft variants) is retailing at €50, or you can buy individual variants of the aircraft for a lower price.
I hope that helps a little. All the best! : )
@@IntotheBlueSimulations Thanks for the heads up
$50 is a bit steep but I'm excited to see it makes its way onto the sim in the near future.
I hope you have as much fun with it as I am planning to!
There are 4 different editions you can purchase the premium with the 330 the 360 and the sherpa with the 36 liveries for 50 dollars. Then the 360 by itself for 30. The 330 by itself for 30 and the sherpa for 30. Sure there is lots in the premium edition but it feels steep at 50 and even the other editions are a bit steep but i only wanted the sherpa edition and felt it was fine for 30 but could be 20 to 25 on its own.
Yes, thanks for making the point, Deathcrow. As stated, I do think that the product is a little overpriced, whichever package one picks up but, as you say, at least one can bring the costs down to a more reasonable level, if they have a specific variant of the Shorts that they’re after. Again, the Shorts is a nice addon but, the texturing probably warrants a $10 price reduction per package.
Cheers, all the best! : )
@IntotheBlueSimulations true, although I barely notice the lower textures just because it Flys better then some planes I've tried. I use it in my virtual cargo company and it's a work horse. A pleasure to fly.
i find myself clicking the mousewheel so i can freelook during these vidz
Haha. Because of the head-tracking you mean, BearMT? XD
The instruments look like they were painted on a wallpaper 😅
What an odd looking aircraft. It looks like something that was designed in a child’s imagination of what a plane should look like. Excellent review as always!
Haha! Indeed, GAOTU - a bit like the DA42 XD
Thanks very much, I’m really glad you enjoyed the video! All the best : )
I'd like to know more about autopilot ILS and GPS approaches. My app and GS is not armed sometimes with no reason... anyone?
Do you happen to know if this will be released to the xbox version or is it strictly a pc mod?
Hi Bill,
I’m afraid I don’t conclusively know the answer to that. Are the other Black Box products available on the console? If they are, I would say that it’s highly likely the Shorts will make its way over to the Xbox and vice versa.
Sorry I can’t offer up anything more concrete on that one. All the best! : )
@IntotheBlueSimulations No worries, I just picked up the b-2 islander from them the other day on the marketplace so I'd say that's probably what will happen.
Hello all…great review so I went and purchased this plane. For the life of me I can’t steer this thing. I have the control locks off, nose wheel steering switch on and I can’t turn at all during taxi. I have Saitek pedals and they show they are working in FS2020. Anyone have any ideas ? Thanks
Hi Jonathan,
I had a similar discussion with someone else; I have my rudder axis bound to both rudder and also NWS. That seems to work pretty well for me with the Shorts so, I wonder if that might be worth a try? Otherwise, I’m afraid I really can’t think what the problem might be. . .
I do hope that helps. Cheers and all the best! : )
Thank you so much and this did it for me…I originally set up a separate axis for nose wheel steering but your approach is much better…thanks and again thank you for your effort on your videos and keep up the good work !
Ah great, happy to hear that got you sorted! My pleasure on the videos, Jonathan, cheers : )
It is an aircraft so ugly its beautiful.. love it.
Haha, absolutely MZ; unlike the Trislander (which is just ghastly), the Shorts, whilst “quirky”, still has a certain charm to it. I’m definitely happy to see a rendition of the aircraft in the sim : )
All the best!
Great review thanks !!
I do hope though, you will be updating some of the review items after our V1.1 Update ?
This has fixed most of the anomalies you mention Including the missing switch sounds etc
Also please dont panic over the ITT Spike LOL Its Quite normal for this aircraft as you can see below LOL
th-cam.com/video/bBz1ygZ7Al8/w-d-xo.html
@grahamwaterfield731 - the ITT should gradually increase to around 600 before rapidly spiking at just over 800. If I’d seen a spike quite as rapid as in the model IRL I’d be sorely tempted to pull the fuel lever!
I have nearly 3000 hours on ‘Sheds’, having flown for Gill Air for 5 years in the early nineties. I have bought your premium package, and am loving it - though there are a few bits and bobs that still need addressing (floating buttons above the flight controls in the 330 freighter for example).
Also, not sure if you’re aware, but all of our 330s never had an AI with Flight Director on the FO’s side - only the Captain got to play with hi-tech stuff such as that! The FO just got a regular AH. Quite an upgrade when we got to fly the 360.
There are certainly bits I can’t remember after nearly 30 years of flying other types, but this definitely takes me back to my ‘youth’ - my first command was on a Shed in my mid twenties!
Things I’d like to see. Ice animations, including the boots working and shedding ice. The Sheds were ice magnets, and we would often be in the thick of it, unable to climb above like our pressurised counterparts could. I’d also like to see higher resolution gauges. Seated at a regular viewing distance, whether in VR or on a 4K monitor, the gauges become blurry, to the point where it becomes a guessing game as to what your speed is, or what the engine instruments are telling you. Having to lean forward in VR, or move the camera forward in flatscreen, just to see the gauges breaks any immersion.
Other than that, great stuff! Is there a paint kit going to be made available? I’d like to see the rest of my old workhorses recreated, rather than just a single passenger configured 360 (our work was split pretty evenly between passengers and freight, with the aircraft being re-configured twice a day - passengers through the day, Royal Mail through the night).
Graham, where is the best place to reach out with bugs? Don't have access to the MSFS forums, and haven't heard back from the support email address. Thanks!
Thanks very much, Graham!
Whilst it probably won’t be for a couple of months at least, I do absolutely plan on revisiting the Shorts at a later date. I intend to get some British Midland liveries made up for the aircraft and will record another flight with the addon when I have done so. Great to hear that many of the issues have already been fixed up.
Many thanks again for letting me take a look at the Shorts. Much appreciated and all the best! : )
No GPS navigation 😔
Hi Heklik,
As mentioned in the video, the Shorts does offer a GNS option also (basically just using the default MSFS GPS). Or were you referring to the lack of GPS NAV functionality from the auto flight system (in which case, I believe you’re correct)?
I hope that clarifies things a little. All the best : )
NOTE: I'm talking after the 1.1 update from a few days ago. The complete absence of checklists in the docs and the in-game mechanism is unacceptable. This is made worse by the tutorial walkthrough missing crucial steps and also some bad info. This caused me much frustration and time spent looking for answers elsewhere instead of flying. Very bad. And the graphics and sounds ain't great. BUT, it does fly quite well once you learn how to operate the thing in the absence of proper instructions.
I noticed you did as in the tutorial and only undid the control lock when holding short AFTER taxiing, which is what the tutorial says. HOWEVER, for me, the rudders don't work (and hence no steering) until the control lock is off, before taxiing. The nosewheel tiller is utterly nonfunctional. So how did you taxi out with the control lock on?
And I have a major problem with the flight model. It has absolutely insane float for me in ground effect when trying to land so I was waiting for you to experience this, but you didn't. How?| For me, the flair causes a climb and once that settles back to a couple feet off the ground, the plane loses stability in all axes by like 45^ while still maintaining momentum down the runway. It's as bad as the pre-patch Beech 18.
Anyway, this is a fairly decent product (once you research checklists that Blackbox failed to provide) but the graphics and sounds are quite sub-par for the price. I mean, you have about 6 separate models each with several liveries, and yet the whole download was only about 850MB initially and was replaced by the 1.1 patch which is only 720MB, so you KNOW things ain't high-res. But, apart from the horrible ground effect float on landing (strangely, not on takeoff), the plane flies pretty well. So 3 stars from me.
I agree with everything you said here. Kind of regret purchasing the premium edition BUT I have hopes things will get fixed later on. It really is perfect for the missions I enjoy flying. So I hope the floating issue will be fixed, and I hope I can use my PMS GTN750 in this in the future as well. And visible cargo!
@@boudewijnzwaal8186 I would like support for the 750, also. I guess rip out the weather radar and the old radios? But anyway, the "premium" edition with all the versions is a better deal than the per-model packages in terms of prices.
Hi Bullet,
Thanks for your thoughts. I very much agree re the documentation. This seems to have become a common theme for some devs in MSFS and certainly isn’t a desirable situation (every dev should be making use of the in-sim checklist system at the very least - I can’t see any good excuse for not doing so). Without resourcing other materials, one simply wouldn’t be able to operate the Shorts effectively, if at all (maaaaybe for a $20 addon, one could look past a full manual but, this should not be the case with a €50 addon!).
I have my rudder pedals bound to both the rudder axis and also the NWS axis, which I suspect is what allowed me to operate the NWS with the control lock still engaged (if memory serves me correctly, the tiller was animating for me also).
I certainly didn’t experience any such ground effect tendency myself (as you can see). I wonder if you’re experiencing the same issue with all variants of the aircraft (I’ve come across a number of bugs that don’t carry through from one variant to the next)? I suspect I simply got lucky and the 360 Cargo variant doesn’t exhibit the same behaviour (I left the weight and balance etc default, so I can’t think what else would account for the difference).
Graphically, the aircraft is indeed sub-par and as such, I do feel that the product is at least $10 overpriced, but otherwise, as you say, I think the Shorts is a decent effort from Black Box overall (and I suspect they will continue to fix up the bugs) - I do enjoy the addon.
A fair assessment. Cheers and all the best!
Not gonna lie….that is one UGLY aircraft 😂
Haha! Fair point, Jay. . . The Shorts isn’t the prettiest aircraft but, it does have a certain charm to it (I think).
All the best!
The Shorts 330 is so ugly I need to wash my eyes every time I see one!
Haha, the Shorts is definitely no looker, Mike however, I do think the aircraft has a certain “charm” - it’s no Trislander at least XD
All the best!