The "SPIKE" is the movable cone in front of the engine inlet. It ensures that the air going into the engines is subsonic. The plane is marked up as a RAAF 6SQN aircraft who operated the F111 until December 2010.
It’s a bit of an oddity actually. The aircraft that carried that anniversary artwork was A8-274, which was a G model. I actually flew in this exact aircraft when it carried that tail artwork. G models didn’t have spikes, but had blow in doors on the side of the intake. It’s not a G model cockpit either, having that big old analog NCU (INU), which was replaced with 2 x MFDs.
@@ratsac oh, thanks for commenting! Often there has to be some poetic licence as they can’t do all variants. Was it a good aeroplane to fly or pig by name pig by nature!? 😅
I’ve had a few hours in it myself, I think it flies nicely if you fly it the way it’s supposed to be flown. If you start ‘bankin and yankin’ is where I’ve found the flight dynamics awful and where I agree. Generally just flying it like a Mach 2 bomber though, I think it flies nice. The twitchy takeoff is what I’d like to see smoothed out before anything else. The F-111 cockpit has to be one of my favorites though now. I think they did a nice job with it, and I think it’s just a cool place to sit, the instruments scrolling instead of being dials is one of the coolest things 😂 GKS also promised an update for the MiG-21 in January and I’m very excited for it. I know the MiG-21 isn’t the most well received jet in MSFS, but it’s always been one of my favorites minus the sound.
Nice video, I hope it gets the improvements it needs, very beautiful aircraft. It has the potential for some great videos, looking forward to them.... 👍🏻
If you plan on doing another video of the pig, consider flying in Brisbane for me and recreate the iconic River Fire display. Take off is from RAAF Amberley, straight in to Brisbane CBD. These days the displays are done by the growler. Merry Xmas.
Most of the liveries are RAAF and Australia regretted buying these huge turkeys very early on. A true widow maker from intro in 1973! Absolute disaster with eight of our RAAF's F-111s (seven F-111Cs and one F-111G) were destroyed in crashes during the type's service, with ten airmen being killed.@@cgaviator
I’ll have to reassess once they’ve updated it and then rip it through the loop! Nothing makes the hairs on my neck stand up quite as much as a low level fast jet, especially one from the 1980s! 😁
Thanks for the video one of my favorite 80s era military aircraft. Starting my second circuit I improved the perceived poor go kart dynamics by flattening-dampening input/response curves on joystick . A work in progress but long overdue . Just a very cool aircraft. Purchased Vulcan last week . Pure juice!!
DCS has me spoiled. Although this GKS version has some improvements over their F-111 featured in FSX, it is still not the same quality that I have come to expect after using products by Heatblur or Razbam. I hope they give it a realistic flight model, sounds, and avionics. Good review, and I agree this model needs some work.
@@inf3243 I think there is still a massive gap between the two even if MSFS did include a combat element. Always space for a couple of sims on my PC! 😅
Worked these for eight years at Mt. Home and Upper Heyford as an autopilot instrument troop. Also worked the A's and the EF's. Doing a double spike check was a laborious eight hour check lemme tell ya. This spike controllers on top of the fuselage were huge, heavy, and looked like an octopus with all the hydraulic lines. And more than once I've seen hydraulic guys mis-connect the lines and it filled the entire pitot static system, standby instruments included, filled with hydraulic fluid! And it would spray out of the static posts like a purple shower. Those were the days.
Thanks Chris. As always upper echelon review Looking forward to getting my hands on this and flying to the old Upper Heyford base, we lived on the approach and regularly had the 111 overhead, one so low that it took tiles off of the roof and bent the tv aerials of our semi 😮 kinda miss them
@cgaviator where we were the highest point of our village , they would regularly be below 200' agl The street made so many complaints the adults were invited to a meeting with some high up officer in the USAF to discuss it. When he was there a couple of 111s flew over as they usually did, he was less than impressed. We all got vip tickets to the airshow that year, it was pretty cool, and they instructed their pilot's not to enter approach until past our village.
Is a former F-111 avionics systems specialist I am impressed with how beautiful this model is. The lack of a manual hurts but I know how everything in the cockpit work, however while all the switches work, most don't function. Can't seem to get the spike lights to go out.
Yes, I saw something about that, definitely unique! I wonder if a documentary type video might go down well. A five minute download and intro to the jets in the sim perhaps. That’s given me some ideas… thanks 🙏🏻
Not sure if you know but on the F111 the main gear door doubles up as the speed brake so could be why it didn't work trying to slow down as the gear was coming down. Great review by the way keep up the good work
As far as the wing sweep goes it’s a variable geometry wing that is manually controlled by the pilot. There was no automatic control of the wing sweep angle in this aircraft.
I really hope they get there own custom sound, this aircraft is old school technology and the engines should be extremely loud, the F-4 phantom by DC designs did a great job at this!
Great review Chris! I couldn't resist buying it anyway. What an iconic aircraft, and the model is really well done, as well as the cockpit. The Flight model is very wobbly and outright bizarre indeed, hopefully will be worked on! But you can do great flights with it! I agree we would need genuine TF30 sounds. Now that we are flying serious stuff in MSFS like F14 and F111, we're looking forward to Tornado of course!
Looks gorgeous, it’s a shame about the flight model. I spent 9 years fixing the Pig at both 1 Sqn and 6 Sqn. I was also lucky enough to get a jolly when I was with 6 Sqn. I loved my time working on this jet.
As someone that has only opened the video and done no watching, it is easily the best add-on available. The ONLY thing is it has absolutely no fly-by-wire, so it feels a little janky sometimes.
@20:05 That's me learning to fly the Macchi 🤣🤣 And here I was thinking that was normal.... Yep the flight dynamics sure need a lot of work. Have a great Christmas Chris.
I think if they were in the $20-$25 range with this some of the ill wouldn't be as much of an issue. In the current state of MSFS pricing $40 for a military aircraft is top pricing and it sets the expectations extremely highly, especially shortly on the heels of the amazing vulcan and tomcat for cheaper than this.
@@cgaviator For me its always been about providing value for the price. Big or small dev, have to provide some kind of value to the customer. Imo $40 for this isn't doing that considering the issues and using stock sounds.
Thats so cool. Thanks Chris. I dreamed of flying one of these but unfortunatlly didn,t make it very far into the selection process. I also missed an opportunity to work as a maintainer on these before the retired them from RAAF service. Really hope they can produce a manual and fix the bugs you mentioned. Will be getting this for sure , to virtually live a dream. Possibly dcs has a manual?. Thanks again Chris. Will be using this vid for initial start up training.
Suddenly you’re on fire again! Great to have you back. As a ‘de rated’ pilot myself your spin for me was always low level timing and sortie. I wonder why you stopped? Anyway thanks for the comeback. Maybe low level routes outside the Mach loop can be an idea?
5:37 further to my comments about the tape instruments and your scan - I've never had the privilege to sit in an F-111 in the flesh and I don't have a complex flight sim setup at present (Unless you count the one I sometimes use at the air museum where I volunteer!) and having recently started seriously practising on it I'm learning about how to conduct a good scan. I looked into all sorts of instruments and the degree of electromechanical/glass in various aircraft cockpits (My all-time favourite being the Tornado GR1). I didn't realise, though probably should have deduced, that there is a counter for all of those tapes, so perhaps it's not as daunting as I first thought. It's a little jarring not having a radar repeater right in front of you, but I expect the philosophy was different to the Tornado. And that wing sweep looks funky! AFAIK Groundcrew would install a kind of mechanical stop to the wingsweep to prevent you from exceeding the limit with certain stores. Having a cockpit-controlled stop (that in theory you can remove if you had to jettison the stores, being bounced) seems a neat feature! Really comprehensive and thorough as always Chris. Have a good Christmas and New Years!
Can’t wait for the Tornado to come out on MSFS. Good scan is key and it can be hard to unlearn one when you are presented with unusual instruments and placement. Still, all the more fun to try.
you are flying over Wollongong ? fond memories of camping one night on the ridge line in Vickery State Forest near Boggabri in the 1970's on one of these shattered the peaceful evening 200' above our heads
@@cgaviator when I flew there it was YWOL Wollongong. To be fair, it’s not close to Wollongong at all, Shellharbour is more apt. But the nearest train station is Albion Park Rail, so *shrugs* It does have a great museum, I was there a few months ago touring the 747. I hope they can get a few more of their aircraft to flying status, but I imagine it’s very expensive. Thanks again for posting the video and I hope you have a great Xmas.
Thank you for being the only level-headed content creator to show this off. Too many have had knee-jerk reactions, especially some who know nothing about flying and only sims. You acknowledged it's shortcomings without exaggeration, but also mentioning the areas it's done well. Way too many see the negative and focus on only that. Again, thank you and well done.
I want to say the left and right spike lights should be off before takeoff but it has been over 25 years since I last worked on an engine run on an F-111. Be happy it's not an F-111A, otherwise you'd also have left and right cowl warning lights. The cowls, used to bring more air into the engines during low speed flight like in takeoff and landing. I'm also not happy with the engine noise. The TF-30 engine had a beautiful whistle to it at idle. The F-14 used the same engine for the first half of its service life.
You're getting the fuel distribution caution because at 14:25 you can see you have 11K in the front tank and almost zero in the aft. So you have a very forward CG. Wings also look empty but that is normal. You might be able to adjust fuel in MSFS loading setup? Fun fact, the fuel transfer system between front and back tanks relied on the fus fuel gauge needles. It simply measured the deflection between the two needles to transfer fuel forward or aft as required.
I'd love to one day see the aircraft in DCS. It would be awesome doing a high speed low level snakeye drop. The TFR at night with Hornets flying SEAD/Escort would be awesome in DCS.
I saw one of these at the Air Force museum a few weeks ago and said to myself I would love to get one in the sim. That being said there’s nothing more annoying to fly than a twitchy plane in the sim. Gonna pass on this one unless they can fix that and give it some proper weight.
Re not being able to select air brake on final, by recollection on the F-111 the air brake is also the under carriage door. With gear down it's as fully extended as allowed for landing. I'm not sure if it extends further with gear up.
Great video. When were you in the RAF? My kid and I are AV Geeks, we are on the Gold Coast in Australia, we went to an open day recently at RAAF Amberley and saw one of these planes ‘in the flesh.’ Until very recently they used to use them for dump and burns at the end of the fireworks in Brisbane. I would have loved to have been a pilot, unfortunately my maths is terrible, so I’m in the army reserves as a drone pilot, which is as close as I’ll get, along with MSFS!
Thanks! I never got to see one fly which is a shame. And very recently would be a good way to answer your question! 😅 There is drone model in the sim if you want to mix business with pleasure! 😁 My maths ain’t the best outside of 1 in 60 calcs and dividing things by miles per minute!
? You mean the lift doesn’t change with the wing sweep? It’s all ‘virtual’ anyway and if I’m honest, I’d do try the handling with it swept and it was less pitchy. So it changed something at least.
@@cgaviator I would guess they use the flaps for that. Believe me i know whats going on i mod planes for some years and i know the MSFS physics. So its kinda fake. The same method is used on the ne Heatblur F-14.
Exellent video Chris, ill donate a kidney if you feel the desire to do an F111 autopilot tutorial. It's driving me nuts. I've read the manual and watched what video content I could find, very little out there. Apparently it has 24 different modes and configuration 😂😮😭. I am a former rock ape, so naturally, I've tried shouting at it, hitting it, buying it a beer, and chatting it up. Nothing has helped thus far.
@cgaviator 🤣 I knew it! I've been convinced for years that I heard one of you chaps at Solenzara jump out the cockpit and start pummeling the thing shouting, "Why...why won't you just start". No one believed me 🤣. Chris you'd be saving a fool from himself, I'm sure your a very busy chap, but if you manage even a short "plain English" tutorial on it, I for one will be immensely grateful. Hope this finds you well and happy.
Bit weird seeing one on the ground with flaps up. Aussies nearly always left them down for flight servicing purposes. Are they the short wings? Would be cool if you got the long wings when you put on the Australian tail markings.
Is the GKS F-111E only available on the MSFS Marketplace? Because if the GKS F-111E ever has a weapons loadout, Id rather get it somewhere else so that I can load weapons on that version as the MSFS Marketplace does'nt allow weapons to be loaded on addons purchased from them.
At the moment or it was at the time. I believe they updated it with a file for PC users to enable weapons. Haven’t looked recently but think that’s right
20:00 around here you are saying it does some crazy stuff with nose tracking are you meaning it should be loosing control more here when aggressive with the stick?
Wait, your complaint is that wing sweep is modeled _more accurately_ than in a plane that just uses the flaps animation trigger to also trigger the wing sweep animation? It would probably be better for the community overall, if reviewers did not try to coerce developers into fulfilling their own personal indulgences, because not everyone wants a $40 simulation one can fly with an Xbox controller. My big question is what are those three yellow panels we see at 6:02 up under the glare shield where normally panel illumination lamps are placed. They look like check lists to me, what's up with that? Also, wow, a bit of a transition there at 19:45, eh? That main gear wheel goes from being a glossy black gumdrop while spinning to being a _much_ more accurate representation of a tire once stopped.
It wasn’t a complaint, just a suggestion for ease of use. Sadly I can’t grab the wing sweep lever with my left hand. I think it a little (too) strong to say coerce, but hey ho. The yellow panels are covered in the video during startup. They are frequency presets.
@@cgaviator well imo, seasoned reviewers never review crappy, or poorly valued content to start with and after that, even undesirable or defective attributes are described, if at all, positively but honestly. I myself intend to release an aircraft sometime in the next year, been at it 8 months already and it is a big investment, may I suggest, to consider that someone with a lot of followers will come along and pan it because the cupholders are too small or something. It is a very delicate thing and the reviewer has little to lose in the exchange, you see. I am all for ease of use, whatever way is used to deploy wing sweep will be muscle memory for an Aardvark pilot, but there are others that insist we simulate the startup of a Lycoming T53 using only a keyboard and sounds. Just saying, try to be encouraging please, thanks.
Is there a manual for this thing somewhere? I need to know what works and what doesn't. The visual model looks great but there's a few issues with it. My rudder pedals go the wrong way. The rudder goes the correct way but the pedals in the aircraft don't. I can't figure out how to get the flaps down with the wings spread. I noticed that when I swept the wings back, then the flaps and slats went down which is definitely wrong. Anyway, where's the POH?
@@cgaviator I mean, I'm an aviation guy. I'm recently retired but I spent most of the last four decades as an aviation maintenance technician specializing in avionics, both military and civilian. So I've been around a lot of complex aircraft. I can figure out most of the F-111 but not all. And I don't know what is supposed to work and what isn't. And there are definitely a few things they don't work correctly.
Other than the Microsoft Market, is there another site that the aircraft can be purchased? Also, can't seem to find the system specs required to run. Thx
@@cgaviator thanks. However are you able to help me with the second part of my question? I.e. what system specs do I need to adequately run this aircraft? This is important given Microsoft doesn't do refunds. Cheers.
@@cgaviator The start-up procedure works, but for some reason when the generators are turned on after the engines are started, the sound of the engines starting is heard again. I don’t want to talk about flight dynamics at all. The planes in the ARMA shooter fly more realistically than this addon.
it is very nice visually but definitely needs work, though it has potential. I believe they will be releasing an update fairly quickly so hopefully they start getting a lot of the issues sorted out.
Really nice to see you back Chris. Hope life gives you enough space / energy to hit us with more content in future.
Yeah, the break turned out to be very healthy indeed! And thanks, appreciate it 👍🏻
Maybe we need to help him and contribute on patreon for additional encouragement. 😂 Wish it was in my budget.
The "SPIKE" is the movable cone in front of the engine inlet. It ensures that the air going into the engines is subsonic. The plane is marked up as a RAAF 6SQN aircraft who operated the F111 until December 2010.
Thanks, so was I right about the Spine/Spike switch? Not that it removed the caution warning.
@@cgaviator The switches should read SPIKE. I think it is a bug.
@@bobpitt1261 good to know, thanks
It’s a bit of an oddity actually. The aircraft that carried that anniversary artwork was A8-274, which was a G model. I actually flew in this exact aircraft when it carried that tail artwork. G models didn’t have spikes, but had blow in doors on the side of the intake. It’s not a G model cockpit either, having that big old analog NCU (INU), which was replaced with 2 x MFDs.
@@ratsac oh, thanks for commenting! Often there has to be some poetic licence as they can’t do all variants. Was it a good aeroplane to fly or pig by name pig by nature!? 😅
I'm 55 I used to see them fly when I was a child and seeing a dump and burn at night time is fantastic 😍
Very authentic Australian scenery - instantly recognisable as Blue Mountains / Great Dividing Range
It’s a lovely area! Part of the reason I enjoy MSFS is that I can ‘travel!’
I’ve had a few hours in it myself, I think it flies nicely if you fly it the way it’s supposed to be flown. If you start ‘bankin and yankin’ is where I’ve found the flight dynamics awful and where I agree. Generally just flying it like a Mach 2 bomber though, I think it flies nice.
The twitchy takeoff is what I’d like to see smoothed out before anything else.
The F-111 cockpit has to be one of my favorites though now. I think they did a nice job with it, and I think it’s just a cool place to sit, the instruments scrolling instead of being dials is one of the coolest things 😂
GKS also promised an update for the MiG-21 in January and I’m very excited for it. I know the MiG-21 isn’t the most well received jet in MSFS, but it’s always been one of my favorites minus the sound.
Agreed! I do like the G91 cockpit for its authenticity.
Now that's a cockpit with some character!! 😃
Absolutely!
Nice video, I hope it gets the improvements it needs, very beautiful aircraft.
It has the potential for some great videos, looking forward to them.... 👍🏻
If it gets less twitchy, and definitely if it gets bombs and TFR! Would be so impressed if and when TFR gets properly working.
Really looking forward to the Tornado and you putting it through it’s paces. It’s the only upcoming jet that will get me off the new F-14.
lol, yeah, can’t wait!
Great to have you back! Can't wait to see what you bring next to the Mach Loop!
It’s probably going to have swept wings! 😁
@@cgaviator That's exciting.
Love the thumbnail of the pig next to an Aussie icon. Loved seeing this bird in Brisbane back in the day.
Thanks, I figured an obvious Aussie reference was needed!
If you plan on doing another video of the pig, consider flying in Brisbane for me and recreate the iconic River Fire display. Take off is from RAAF Amberley, straight in to Brisbane CBD. These days the displays are done by the growler. Merry Xmas.
Most of the liveries are RAAF and Australia regretted buying these huge turkeys very early on. A true widow maker from intro in 1973! Absolute disaster with eight of our RAAF's F-111s (seven F-111Cs and one F-111G) were destroyed in crashes during the type's service, with ten airmen being killed.@@cgaviator
I remember these as a child flying low level through the Conwy Valley towards the Loop in the 80s. What a noise👍 great video again
I’ll have to reassess once they’ve updated it and then rip it through the loop! Nothing makes the hairs on my neck stand up quite as much as a low level fast jet, especially one from the 1980s! 😁
Thanks for the video one of my favorite 80s era military aircraft. Starting my second circuit I improved the perceived poor go kart dynamics by flattening-dampening input/response curves on joystick . A work in progress but long overdue . Just a very cool aircraft. Purchased Vulcan last week . Pure juice!!
Looks like you’ll have your hands full for a while!
DCS has me spoiled. Although this GKS version has some improvements over their F-111 featured in FSX, it is still not the same quality that I have come to expect after using products by Heatblur or Razbam. I hope they give it a realistic flight model, sounds, and avionics. Good review, and I agree this model needs some work.
True… now if they could only combine the best bits of DCS and MSFS they’d really be onto something! 😅
Yuup. If MSFS ever adds combat again it will pretty much destroy DCS.
@@inf3243 I think there is still a massive gap between the two even if MSFS did include a combat element. Always space for a couple of sims on my PC! 😅
One to keep an eye on, as it matures. Thank you for the review
My pleasure, thanks
A beautiful model, no doubt about it. I hope it gets the refinement it needs - then, I will buy it.
It’s so close to something I’ll use alot!
@@cgaviator Yep, exactly that.
Worked these for eight years at Mt. Home and Upper Heyford as an autopilot instrument troop. Also worked the A's and the EF's. Doing a double spike check was a laborious eight hour check lemme tell ya. This spike controllers on top of the fuselage were huge, heavy, and looked like an octopus with all the hydraulic lines. And more than once I've seen hydraulic guys mis-connect the lines and it filled the entire pitot static system, standby instruments included, filled with hydraulic fluid! And it would spray out of the static posts like a purple shower. Those were the days.
😂 sounds about right!
Thanks Chris. As always upper echelon review
Looking forward to getting my hands on this and flying to the old Upper Heyford base, we lived on the approach and regularly had the 111 overhead, one so low that it took tiles off of the roof and bent the tv aerials of our semi 😮 kinda miss them
Brilliant! Must have been low if it bent the aerials! 😉
@cgaviator where we were the highest point of our village , they would regularly be below 200' agl
The street made so many complaints the adults were invited to a meeting with some high up officer in the USAF to discuss it.
When he was there a couple of 111s flew over as they usually did, he was less than impressed.
We all got vip tickets to the airshow that year, it was pretty cool, and they instructed their pilot's not to enter approach until past our village.
Really good to have you back Chris! I was starting to fear you had lost it, and turned in your wings!!
Never! 😅 And thanks 👍🏻
Is a former F-111 avionics systems specialist I am impressed with how beautiful this model is. The lack of a manual hurts but I know how everything in the cockpit work, however while all the switches work, most don't function. Can't seem to get the spike lights to go out.
Glad you said that, I found the same. Beauty is a tad skin deep.
That heading attitude indicator is so cool! Looks like what they used on Apollo.
True!
Yeah I agree… once they’ve sorted the flight model, I’ll fly it loads more, but for now it just to agile imo :(
Yup, that, definitely!
Good looking model. I really wish we could get one of these in DCS.
I really wish DCS could get world wide scenery coverage then I may make the switch! 😅
As soon as I saw this release I just knew you'd do a video. Welcome back Chris!
Thanks! 🙏🏻 You know me well! 😁
Cant wait to give this a watch after work.
Ive always been fascinated with the F111 it has a real amazing ejection system.
Yes, I saw something about that, definitely unique! I wonder if a documentary type video might go down well. A five minute download and intro to the jets in the sim perhaps. That’s given me some ideas… thanks 🙏🏻
Wow. That is the best review of a flight sim I have seen. Very professional. It is astonishing that such a complex model can be rendered so smoothly.
Thanks, appreciate it! My PC was working hard for sure! 😅
Not sure if you know but on the F111 the main gear door doubles up as the speed brake so could be why it didn't work trying to slow down as the gear was coming down. Great review by the way keep up the good work
Yup, I didn’t realise. Interesting design
This one seems to be getting a lot of attention. I like your review of it, thank you for being so thorough!! Merry Christmas!
My pleasure 👍🏻 and Merry Christmas
Please update this if the developers do. Aircraft modelling is phenomenal. Another killer video!
Thanks! 👍🏻 Of the devs update it, I’ll be flying it a lot more! Til the Tonkas come out anyway
Really great to see you back at the controls Chris 👍🏼Great video of this iconic bomber
Thanks, appreciate it 👍🏻
Many thanks for all your content throughout the year. Keep well best wishes .
My pleasure, and same to you 👍🏻
As far as the wing sweep goes it’s a variable geometry wing that is manually controlled by the pilot. There was no automatic control of the wing sweep angle in this aircraft.
Yup 👍🏻
I really hope they get there own custom sound, this aircraft is old school technology and the engines should be extremely loud, the F-4 phantom by DC designs did a great job at this!
The F14 by DC Designs also had fantastic sounds.
Great review Chris! I couldn't resist buying it anyway. What an iconic aircraft, and the model is really well done, as well as the cockpit. The Flight model is very wobbly and outright bizarre indeed, hopefully will be worked on! But you can do great flights with it! I agree we would need genuine TF30 sounds. Now that we are flying serious stuff in MSFS like F14 and F111, we're looking forward to Tornado of course!
Yup… it’s incredible how far everything has come in the sim! The F14 setting the new benchmark
Looks gorgeous, it’s a shame about the flight model. I spent 9 years fixing the Pig at both 1 Sqn and 6 Sqn. I was also lucky enough to get a jolly when I was with 6 Sqn. I loved my time working on this jet.
Jealous, that’s brilliant! Was it reliable?
As someone that has only opened the video and done no watching, it is easily the best add-on available. The ONLY thing is it has absolutely no fly-by-wire, so it feels a little janky sometimes.
Bold call, I’m not sure what I’d call the best addon ever. I’ll have to do some thinking! 😅
Nice presentation! I did remember a book what I had in the past from aviation fact file Modern fighting aircraft F-111. 😊
Old school modern! Perfect 👌🏻
@20:05 That's me learning to fly the Macchi 🤣🤣 And here I was thinking that was normal.... Yep the flight dynamics sure need a lot of work. Have a great Christmas Chris.
Thanks, you too!
I think if they were in the $20-$25 range with this some of the ill wouldn't be as much of an issue. In the current state of MSFS pricing $40 for a military aircraft is top pricing and it sets the expectations extremely highly, especially shortly on the heels of the amazing vulcan and tomcat for cheaper than this.
Good point, price comparison. Though sometimes Indy products can be more expensive as bigger companies can see more for cheaper perhaps?
@@cgaviator For me its always been about providing value for the price. Big or small dev, have to provide some kind of value to the customer. Imo $40 for this isn't doing that considering the issues and using stock sounds.
Thats so cool. Thanks Chris.
I dreamed of flying one of these but unfortunatlly didn,t make it very far into the selection process.
I also missed an opportunity to work as a maintainer on these before the retired them from RAAF service.
Really hope they can produce a manual and fix the bugs you mentioned.
Will be getting this for sure , to virtually live a dream.
Possibly dcs has a manual?.
Thanks again Chris. Will be using this vid for initial start up training.
Sorry to hear that, at least you tried. Many don’t even apply! I’ll check around a bit more. But it’ll need improvements before I use it regularly 👍🏻
Good to see you back mate
Appreciate it, thanks 🙏🏻
Suddenly you’re on fire again! Great to have you back. As a ‘de rated’ pilot myself your spin for me was always low level timing and sortie. I wonder why you stopped? Anyway thanks for the comeback. Maybe low level routes outside the Mach loop can be an idea?
Thanks, I’m sure there’ll be peaks and troughs. Took some time off to recharge but missed the community so always planned to come back 👍🏻
Another amazing video Sir! Merry Christmas!
Thank you, very kind 👍🏻
Welcome back? WELCOME BACK? 😂😂 (good to see you back)
lol, thanks, appreciate it 👍🏻
I missed the high speed run with wings fully back swept. Then it looks so awesome
I should have done more fully swept… next time 👍🏻
I love the F-111 watched them at Lakenheath, have to get this. Great video, thanks
5:37 further to my comments about the tape instruments and your scan - I've never had the privilege to sit in an F-111 in the flesh and I don't have a complex flight sim setup at present (Unless you count the one I sometimes use at the air museum where I volunteer!) and having recently started seriously practising on it I'm learning about how to conduct a good scan. I looked into all sorts of instruments and the degree of electromechanical/glass in various aircraft cockpits (My all-time favourite being the Tornado GR1). I didn't realise, though probably should have deduced, that there is a counter for all of those tapes, so perhaps it's not as daunting as I first thought. It's a little jarring not having a radar repeater right in front of you, but I expect the philosophy was different to the Tornado. And that wing sweep looks funky! AFAIK Groundcrew would install a kind of mechanical stop to the wingsweep to prevent you from exceeding the limit with certain stores. Having a cockpit-controlled stop (that in theory you can remove if you had to jettison the stores, being bounced) seems a neat feature! Really comprehensive and thorough as always Chris. Have a good Christmas and New Years!
Can’t wait for the Tornado to come out on MSFS. Good scan is key and it can be hard to unlearn one when you are presented with unusual instruments and placement. Still, all the more fun to try.
Looks AWESOME...except the flight model. I'll buy if they get that sorted out.
I mean, it flies perfectly well if flown gently, but it’s too twitchy for sure.
you are flying over Wollongong ? fond memories of camping one night on the ridge line in Vickery State Forest near Boggabri in the 1970's on one of these shattered the peaceful evening 200' above our heads
Looks really nice but for me, I’m waiting for the Tornado. I REALLY hope that one is as good as it could be.
Me too! I think we’ve been spoilt by the F14! Fingers crossed of course!
I'll never get used to calling it Shellharbour :) Great video, thanks!
What was it before?
@@cgaviator when I flew there it was YWOL Wollongong. To be fair, it’s not close to Wollongong at all, Shellharbour is more apt. But the nearest train station is Albion Park Rail, so *shrugs*
It does have a great museum, I was there a few months ago touring the 747. I hope they can get a few more of their aircraft to flying status, but I imagine it’s very expensive.
Thanks again for posting the video and I hope you have a great Xmas.
for a second landing, very impressive
Thanks 🙏🏻
Thank you for being the only level-headed content creator to show this off. Too many have had knee-jerk reactions, especially some who know nothing about flying and only sims. You acknowledged it's shortcomings without exaggeration, but also mentioning the areas it's done well. Way too many see the negative and focus on only that. Again, thank you and well done.
Absolutely my pleasure, exactly what I try to achieve, some balance. Thanks 🙏🏻
I want to say the left and right spike lights should be off before takeoff but it has been over 25 years since I last worked on an engine run on an F-111. Be happy it's not an F-111A, otherwise you'd also have left and right cowl warning lights. The cowls, used to bring more air into the engines during low speed flight like in takeoff and landing. I'm also not happy with the engine noise. The TF-30 engine had a beautiful whistle to it at idle. The F-14 used the same engine for the first half of its service life.
Bet it sounded lovely! I wonder if there’s a real one still working for them to record the engine sound from.
I hope this comes to DCS that would be awesome.
Would be sweet!
You're getting the fuel distribution caution because at 14:25 you can see you have 11K in the front tank and almost zero in the aft. So you have a very forward CG. Wings also look empty but that is normal. You might be able to adjust fuel in MSFS loading setup? Fun fact, the fuel transfer system between front and back tanks relied on the fus fuel gauge needles. It simply measured the deflection between the two needles to transfer fuel forward or aft as required.
Ah, thanks! The default fuel load is out of balance then.
Looks great Chris !!
It does look amazing! Some real potential!
@@cgaviator enjoy and have a great Christmas Chris. Look forward to more next year !! Thanks again
I'd love to one day see the aircraft in DCS. It would be awesome doing a high speed low level snakeye drop.
The TFR at night with Hornets flying SEAD/Escort would be awesome in DCS.
Need some TFR action. Should really try it on the F15 in DCS.
This would make a great basis for a DCS module 😉
True!
An acrobatic F111 😂 ! Tanks a lot for this review, i love this plane so much...
lol, tanks indeed! 👍🏻
Closest to a restored F-111. Should be a big seller! Yes, engine sounds need correction.
Agreed. It’s had some updates since. Here’s hoping they polish this off as it has so much potential!
Thanks for the Pig review. That scenery is stunning is it an add on?
YSHL, I believe it’s an enhanced airport but not a separate addon. And my pleasure 👍🏻
The ghosting / bleed-through of the gauge glass is an MSFS bug; it happens on some sceneries too.
Very strange, not noticed that before, thanks for letting me know
I saw one of these at the Air Force museum a few weeks ago and said to myself I would love to get one in the sim. That being said there’s nothing more annoying to fly than a twitchy plane in the sim. Gonna pass on this one unless they can fix that and give it some proper weight.
I’m hoping the dev’s will fix it, especially now the issue is highlighted.
The Dump n Burn is visible in multiplayer!!! Followed a Lt Chris out of YAMB for a 'Riverfire' practice over Brisbane and saw his dump!
Oh that’s brilliant! I can imagine a sky full of burning trails! 😂
Lol ... Zippo lighters everywhere
Thank you for replying. I really like your overview/review videos. Cheers
My pleasure 👍🏻
Re not being able to select air brake on final, by recollection on the F-111 the air brake is also the under carriage door. With gear down it's as fully extended as allowed for landing. I'm not sure if it extends further with gear up.
You’re right, I looked after and it is the same door. Interesting design!
Qantas 747, F-111 and many more military aircraft on display at HARS,
Shellharbour Airport
👍
I shall have to visit for real at some point!
@cgaviator I live about a km from the airport.
The airshow is always a weekend of military power and noise ! 👍🇦🇺
DCS needs an f-111 module.
Not sure where he modelled the textures but from.my memory the raaf f111s never looked that worn.
To move about so freely, are you using VR or head tracking?? Great to see you back!!
Thanks, and I’m using trackir and an Xbox controller for external camera
Brilliant thank you for that!! Looking to get a PC for the sim and like how you can move around like that
@@benperfect6624 yeah, a real game changer. Tobii eye tracker does something similar. Did a review a while back. Haven’t made the full leap to VR yet
Great, something I’ll have a look into then! Just need to make the jump from Xbox to PC now!
It needs some updating, but this thing is pretty sweet. Definitely more of a Cold War bomber than a modern fighter though.
Definitely 👍🏻
welcome back
Thanks 🙏🏻
Great video. When were you in the RAF? My kid and I are AV Geeks, we are on the Gold Coast in Australia, we went to an open day recently at RAAF Amberley and saw one of these planes ‘in the flesh.’ Until very recently they used to use them for dump and burns at the end of the fireworks in Brisbane. I would have loved to have been a pilot, unfortunately my maths is terrible, so I’m in the army reserves as a drone pilot, which is as close as I’ll get, along with MSFS!
Thanks! I never got to see one fly which is a shame. And very recently would be a good way to answer your question! 😅 There is drone model in the sim if you want to mix business with pleasure! 😁 My maths ain’t the best outside of 1 in 60 calcs and dividing things by miles per minute!
weapons will be available in the community version as per dev description
th-cam.com/video/F0TVi_sSaz8/w-d-xo.html
Info: There is no physical wing sweep on planes in MSFS. It doesnt matter at all. Its all just optical.
? You mean the lift doesn’t change with the wing sweep? It’s all ‘virtual’ anyway and if I’m honest, I’d do try the handling with it swept and it was less pitchy. So it changed something at least.
@@cgaviator I would guess they use the flaps for that. Believe me i know whats going on i mod planes for some years and i know the MSFS physics. So its kinda fake. The same method is used on the ne Heatblur F-14.
So tempted to get this but il wait for a Tornado and buy the Aardvark on DCS ..
There’s an aardvark on DCS!? 😳 I’m so out of the loop! 😅
One day it will just take the press of one button to start. That looks so complicated, no wonder you need 'A' levels to be a fighter pilots😆
😂 Once you’ve done things like this 50+ times it becomes like starting a car! Well, perhaps not quite, but pretty second nature!
yeah they must have updated it cuz mine dont fly like that. it feels like a bomber it handles excellent
Yup, tried it recently and agree 👍🏻
Exellent video Chris, ill donate a kidney if you feel the desire to do an F111 autopilot tutorial. It's driving me nuts. I've read the manual and watched what video content I could find, very little out there. Apparently it has 24 different modes and configuration 😂😮😭. I am a former rock ape, so naturally, I've tried shouting at it, hitting it, buying it a beer, and chatting it up. Nothing has helped thus far.
🤣 Hitting it always worked when trying to fly the tornado! Haven’t used this jet in a while but I should. I’ll move it up my todo list! 🪨 🦍 💪🏻
@cgaviator 🤣 I knew it! I've been convinced for years that I heard one of you chaps at Solenzara jump out the cockpit and start pummeling the thing shouting, "Why...why won't you just start". No one believed me 🤣. Chris you'd be saving a fool from himself, I'm sure your a very busy chap, but if you manage even a short "plain English" tutorial on it, I for one will be immensely grateful. Hope this finds you well and happy.
Bit weird seeing one on the ground with flaps up. Aussies nearly always left them down for flight servicing purposes. Are they the short wings? Would be cool if you got the long wings when you put on the Australian tail markings.
All beyond me! And I wasn’t following proper procedures. Most places leave the flaps down a bit.
Good review
Thanks 🙏🏻
Is the GKS F-111E only available on the MSFS Marketplace? Because if the GKS F-111E ever has a weapons loadout, Id rather get it somewhere else so that I can load weapons on that version as the MSFS Marketplace does'nt allow weapons to be loaded on addons purchased from them.
At the moment or it was at the time. I believe they updated it with a file for PC users to enable weapons. Haven’t looked recently but think that’s right
20:00 around here you are saying it does some crazy stuff with nose tracking are you meaning it should be loosing control more here when aggressive with the stick?
It wouldn’t be that responsive. It should have inertia and not be so quick to respond. Just my general experience as a Tonka flyer.
Wait, your complaint is that wing sweep is modeled _more accurately_ than in a plane that just uses the flaps animation trigger to also trigger the wing sweep animation? It would probably be better for the community overall, if reviewers did not try to coerce developers into fulfilling their own personal indulgences, because not everyone wants a $40 simulation one can fly with an Xbox controller.
My big question is what are those three yellow panels we see at 6:02 up under the glare shield where normally panel illumination lamps are placed. They look like check lists to me, what's up with that? Also, wow, a bit of a transition there at 19:45, eh? That main gear wheel goes from being a glossy black gumdrop while spinning to being a _much_ more accurate representation of a tire once stopped.
It wasn’t a complaint, just a suggestion for ease of use. Sadly I can’t grab the wing sweep lever with my left hand. I think it a little (too) strong to say coerce, but hey ho. The yellow panels are covered in the video during startup. They are frequency presets.
@@cgaviator well imo, seasoned reviewers never review crappy, or poorly valued content to start with and after that, even undesirable or defective attributes are described, if at all, positively but honestly.
I myself intend to release an aircraft sometime in the next year, been at it 8 months already and it is a big investment, may I suggest, to consider that someone with a lot of followers will come along and pan it because the cupholders are too small or something.
It is a very delicate thing and the reviewer has little to lose in the exchange, you see. I am all for ease of use, whatever way is used to deploy wing sweep will be muscle memory for an Aardvark pilot, but there are others that insist we simulate the startup of a Lycoming T53 using only a keyboard and sounds.
Just saying, try to be encouraging please, thanks.
@@aardque tricky balance to strike, I’ll try my best 👍🏻
Is there a manual for this thing somewhere? I need to know what works and what doesn't. The visual model looks great but there's a few issues with it. My rudder pedals go the wrong way. The rudder goes the correct way but the pedals in the aircraft don't. I can't figure out how to get the flaps down with the wings spread. I noticed that when I swept the wings back, then the flaps and slats went down which is definitely wrong.
Anyway, where's the POH?
As mentioned in this video, from what I saw, there isn’t one.
@@cgaviator Well, that's nice. As complex as this aircraft is and nobody saw fit to put an instruction manual with it?
@@bretttrommler756 some devs don’t, I think these guys are doing their own videos? I saw an intro one and an engine start perhaps.
@@cgaviator I mean, I'm an aviation guy. I'm recently retired but I spent most of the last four decades as an aviation maintenance technician specializing in avionics, both military and civilian. So I've been around a lot of complex aircraft. I can figure out most of the F-111 but not all. And I don't know what is supposed to work and what isn't. And there are definitely a few things they don't work correctly.
Nice looking plane, but those flight dynamics are wonky. lol
Wonky, good word for it lol!
Hi. Have the sounds been updated?
Or is it still FA18 sound pack?
It didn’t look like it in the developers update video
Sure hope for that price they put a manual out.
True, I don’t like not knowing if it’s me or the machine at fault! 🤦🏼♂️
Other than the Microsoft Market, is there another site that the aircraft can be purchased? Also, can't seem to find the system specs required to run. Thx
Missed this. Yes, most releases are available on third party sites, Just Flight or Orbx for example. This one may be marketplace only.
@@cgaviator thanks. However are you able to help me with the second part of my question? I.e. what system specs do I need to adequately run this aircraft? This is important given Microsoft doesn't do refunds. Cheers.
Does the INS actually work and give you lat/long updates. Really hope they update this as was thinking about buying it
I didn’t check but I should. I’ll try to remember. What they need is a proper product page, and, well… a manual! 😅
I have this addon and I must say that its very bugged. The start-up procedure is messed and rudder pedals animation in the cockpit are inversed.
I was careful to explain how to get the start working in this video. Did it work for you? And you know, I didn’t even notice the rudder pedals! 😅
@@cgaviator The start-up procedure works, but for some reason when the generators are turned on after the engines are started, the sound of the engines starting is heard again. I don’t want to talk about flight dynamics at all. The planes in the ARMA shooter fly more realistically than this addon.
@@Skipper441 fingers crossed for an update soon!
*Cries in DCS*
There’s always at least one! 😂
it is very nice visually but definitely needs work, though it has potential. I believe they will be releasing an update fairly quickly so hopefully they start getting a lot of the issues sorted out.
Fingers crossed!
The main gear need more droop with weight off wheels.
Roger… hopefully the devs will read these comments and update in future 👍🏻
Whats your thoughts on the new tomcat? Id be interested in your opinion.
I’ll have to do a video with it but need some time to learn it so my demos are more concise.
But it is bloody brilliant 👍🏻
@@cgaviator looks like your tornado is arriving next year also. Awesome 👌
Better cockpit ergonomics than the Vulcan
Not wrong there! 😅 But those strip gauges!? I mean, what the!? 😂
Good effort! Could give you a few tips😂
I always take tips - cash is preferred!
Dam I was just going to suggest be good to your Mother🤣🤣🤣
@@mikeF111 😝
@@cgaviator enjoyed the video. Brought back some great memories 😍
Howd you get the pilots in there? I loaded up mine but it had the GA pilots
Dunno, they were just there! 😅
@@cgaviator nice! lol mines a guy and girl with sunglasses, looking like theyre taking the 111 for a Sunday stroll
Time stamps are messed up
Yes, I deleted them as I forgot I hadn’t set them properly. Sorry about that
Also, TH-cam may have set chapters automatically?
Love the cockpit feel. Flight model looks a bit sus though 😀
To be fair, most MSFS fast jet flight models are a bit sus! 😅
@@cgaviator which is why i always get my fast air kick from DCS 😂
Cleaning up the underground..
?