Alpha Simulations Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

By Phil Colvin (4 March 2004)

t was the afterburners that got me. The drag chute looked very nice too, and they mentioned a virtual cockpit...but that long, segmented flame, looking much like photos of the real thing, that's what really did it. Was I really going to spend fourteen dollars and ninety-five cents when I can download thousands of great aircraft for free? Ahh, but not currently any Blackbirds to compare with this one. And this is a plane to stir the blood, is it not?

No wonder it's been imitated for decades in everything from big-budget sci-fi films to paperback book covers (I saw one as a kid that portrayed an upside-down one as a submarine from the twenty-first century). Even today it looks like something from the future. And it certainly also looks like what it is: the fastest aircraft in the world ever to take off and land under its own power (OK, that we know of - if one of you developers out there wants to upload a really nice Aurora to the site I'll review that too).

Surely very few are the aviation enthusiasts who don't know that this plane was the result of a project by the legendary Lockheed "Skunk Works" team, lead by Kelly Johnson, to develop a successor to the U-2 spyplane that could fly even higher - and so fast that nothing could touch it. And they succeeded: there has never been an SR-71 aircrew casualty, or aircraft lost to enemy fire. From the ground-breaking use of titanium in its construction to the stealthy airframe shape and coating materials, to the revolutionary Pratt and Whitney engines combining the characteristics of both turbojet and ramjet, to the special fireproof fuel (to avoid fire-hazard when it leaked from seams deliberately designed to do so when the plane was on the ground, and to expand shut in the heat of flight), this jet was so unique and so far ahead of its time that many experts still consider it to be the ultimate acheivement in aircraft design. It's therfore not surprising that the History and Discovery Channels, the Internet and bookstores everywhere are loaded with information about and images of this truly historic plane.

What is a little surprising for all those same reasons is that it took this long for somebody to come up with a Flight Simulator 2004 grade version of it. But Alpha Simulations has remedied that with their SR-71. For your money you get both the A model with two textures and the twin-canopied B model. In addition to the planes you get concise and attractive checklist and reference pages, suitable for color printing.

The visual modeling on the planes is nice, having virtually no sudden angles from too few polygons. Of course, we've come to expect that these days, haven't we? Who remembers the good old Phoenix Software SR-71 for FS2000? Here's a screenshot (right) of it I made years ago. It was great in its day but look at those engine nacelles! And while we're on the subject look at the evolution of MSFS itself - what a difference. What will it look like two iterations from now?

Oh well, back to the present. This is the first Blackbird I've seen with engine exhaust vents that look much like the real thing. The canopy is nicely done and when you open it you get an animation that includes the pilot resting his arms over the edge - that made me laugh. I love it when my new toys surprise me. My only gripes on the visual models are very minor: I don't care for the rim of light grey color bordering the engine inlet spikes, there's a conspicuous lack of detail in the wheel wells, the corrugation on the wings could be better and the black color could be a little darker. But a very nice visual model overall, including subtle reflections on the plane's dark skin. My only sizeable disappointment regarding looks is with the instruments in the 2D and virtual panels. They are very simplistic and cartoonlike, especially the horizon indicators. They just aren't commensurate with the rest of the package and there have been several shareware panels that look a lot better. However, they function well enough. And as I said, those afterburners are sweet. They're what really seduced me.

Okay, enough about looks. How does she fly? Well I'm happy to say that it's the first Blackbird I've flown on a PC that climbs well to Blackbird-like altitudes and can be managed at mach 3. Alpha states that it's tricky (and they're right) and recommends using autopilot at high Mach, but it still did better than the freeware Blackbirds I've tried, which either went crazy at those speeds and altitudes or couldn't reach them.

A nice touch is that you can adjust the inlet spikes for better high speed performance. The checklist says to cycle the inlet spikes with F5 and F8 before taxi, and you can see a very nice animation of them moving in and out. You get advice on exactly where to set these spikes throughout the flight envelope, and it's important to do so because they really make a difference in the way the airplane flies. And on approach, it's completely impossible to slow the aircraft below 250 withouth setting them properly. For convenience, those very nicely done reference and checklists are available through the appropriate buttons on your kneeboard when you hit F10. As for the drag chute, although it does look nice once you touch down, it's strictly cosmetic. It doesn't appear in flight unless your wheels are down.

Another thing I like about the way the effects are done is that the afterburner flames appear as they should when you advance the throttle, and not anytime the aircraft's lights are on, which seems to be a universal problem in FS2004 when flying planes originally designed for 2002. As far as inbetween speeds are concerned the plane handles about like you'd expect.

The sound for the plane is defaulted to the 737 in MSFS, which is hardly appropriate. Alpha suggests the sounds from their Avro Vulcan package, which they want you to buy in its entirety to obtain. On the other hand, even though it is payware it's priced less than a lot of the premium stuff out there. I'd say I got my money's worth.

Overall this download is a bit of a mixed bag. Although I don't recommend it unreservedly I do recommend it. I'm glad I got mine. And, oh yes, did I mention: the afterburners look nice.

Phil Colvin
gimpyfoot1@yahoo.com

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