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UH60 Blackhawk V3Publisher: BFDGReview Author: Paul MortSuggested Price: $24.95/images/fsc/wbicons/pilot-shop-buy.png /images/reviews/blachawk/t/uh60_4.jpgIn this review I will be looking at the UH-60 Black Hawk by BFDG.It's not often that a helicopter (especially one with this pedigree)is released for X-Plane, so I was pleased to have the opportunity toreview it. /images/reviews/blachawk/t/uh60_2.jpg /images/reviews/blachawk/t/uh60_3.jpgHistoryNamed after the Native American war leader Black Hawk, the UH-60Aentered service with the U.S. Army in 1979, to replace the Bell UH-1Iroquois (nicknamed "Huey") as the Army's tactical transporthelicopter. This was followed by the fielding of electronic warfareand special operations variants of the Black Hawk. Improved UH-60L andUH-60M utility variants have also been developed. Modified versionshave also been developed for the U.S. Navy, Air Force, and CoastGuard. In addition to U.S. Army use, the UH-60 family has beenexported to several nations. Black Hawks have served in combat duringconflicts in Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Somalia, the Balkans, Afghanistan,and other areas in the Middle East. /images/reviews/blachawk/t/uh60_1.jpg /images/reviews/blachawk/t/uh60_5.jpgThe Walk RoundWalking around the aircraft, it was clear to see that a lot of workhad gone into recreating the Black Hawk for X-Plane. Both texturesand panel detailing were of a high quality, especially the main gearand rotors. One area I was particularly impressed with was the sheeramount of liveries that the developers had included with the package -13 in total. These ranged from military and coast guard variants, toprivately owned offerings. Each one of these liveries was representedin 4k resolution, and looked fantastic (there was not a poor versionamong them). /images/reviews/blachawk/t/uh60_6.jpg /images/reviews/blachawk/t/uh60_7.jpgThe MenuSituated discreetly at the bottom left of the screen, is the 'BFDGMenu' tab. Clicking this tab releases a toy box full of 'One Click'options, that are guaranteed to keep even the most discerning chopperpilot happy. In addition to being able to customize the Black Hawk's interiorwith crew, the seats can also be removed and left empty, or you canload it up with cargo crates. When opening the main doors, the soundof the engine increases, and here you have the option to wearearplugs, so reducing the noise - a nice touch! A great feature, and one I had a lot of fun with, was the abilityto deploy the hoist. Extracting various members of the crew (completewith worried faces) brought a smile to my face! /images/reviews/blachawk/t/uh60_14.jpg /images/reviews/blachawk/t/uh60_15.jpgAnother feature which got a lot of use, was the option to morph theBlack Hawk into a Sea Hawk or Pave Hawk. Again, this was done with asingle click of the mouse button, which made a welcome change tohaving to go back into X-Plane's main aircraft menu. The Hot SeatBecause of the complexity of implementing an autopilot in ahelicopter, many developers chose to provide a 'dumbed down' version,or in a lot of cases, none at all. Hand flying a helicopter is atricky process to say the least, and has been described by some aslike trying to stand and balance on a beach ball. Doing this forhours on end can have a rather punishing effect on your fingers, so tolearn that the Black Hawk implemented an autopilot, was a major pluspoint in my eyes! The system employs the 'SAS' (Stability Augmentation System) whichmeans that from the moment you lift off, the stability and controloffered by the Black Hawk is flawless - it will even perform an ILSlanding if required. /images/reviews/blachawk/t/uh60_10.jpg /images/reviews/blachawk/t/uh60_11.jpgThe buttons used to indicate when a certain feature of theautopilot is in use (highlighted green), are clear and easy to read. The selectors for the autopilot are found on the central console,while their associated indicators are on the main front console.Assigning these to your numeric keypad, or even better, a third partyautopilot plugin box, greatly helps with this. The need for instantaccess so as to avoid colliding with the ground while fiddling withthe controls is considerably reduced if the above options are used. The Black Hawk uses the standard X-Plane Garmin 530 GPS fornavigation which performs its job without any problems. /images/reviews/blachawk/t/uh60_12.jpg /images/reviews/blachawk/t/uh60_13.jpgProblemsThe cockpit lighting was slightly lacking in my opinion, being onlyuseful at night. During the day (bad weather) it didn't work as well.I also had some issues with ground shadows, but this could have beendue to my setup. Words Of WisdomDocumentation includes a very nice 29 page PDF manual, which isboth easy to follow and highly informative (it gets you up and goingin no time at all). The manual boasts completely revised flightdynamics for v2 and covers the technical specification and history ofthe Black Hawk. A guide to the Garmin 530 is also included (again PDFformat). /images/reviews/blachawk/t/uh60_8.jpg /images/reviews/blachawk/t/uh60_9.jpgConclusionSo, is the Black Hawk by BFDG worth your hard earned cash? Well,being a helicopter enthusiast, I would have to say yes. For itsasking price, you do in effect get three helicopters for your money -the Black Hawk, the Sea Hawk and lastly, the Pave Hawk. You also geta ton of liveries to have fun with, and as an amateur livery paintermyself, I really enjoyed having the variety to choose from. The addedbonus of having an autopilot means that those simmers, who in the pasthave shunned away from flying helicopters due to their difficultylevel, can now enjoy the experience. Another point which I failed to mentioned earlier on in the review,was the performance in terms of FPS on my system. My X-Plane setup isfar from being the latest and greatest, but even when using highrendering settings, I noticed no performance loss. However, the Black Hawk is not without its issues (albeit minor).In my opinion, internal lighting could be improved, and as mentionedearlier, ground shadows (on my system at least) did give me a fewareas of concern. If those issues were rectified in later patches,then I can honestly say this would probably make the Black Hawkperfect. For those simmers looking for their first payware helicopter, thenI can whole heartedly say that BFDG's Black Hawk more than warrantsyour time. She's both fun and accessible, which in my mind, is whatflight simulation is all about. /images/notams/notams17/bfdg1108.jpgPaul Mort Purchase BFDG - UH60 Blackhawk v2