THE ALPHA-JET TRAINER, BY “XPFR”: X-PLANE FRANCEA MINI-REVIEW BY CHIPSIM7

There are a few aircraft available for Laminar’s X-Plane flight simulator that are so fun to use, so amazing to fly, that they are worth every franc it takes to buy them. These planes set the standard that all the other developers take aim at. Tom Kyler’s Mu-2 and Falco, Nils Danielsson’s BK-117 and JROLLON’s CRJ-200 have defined the leading edge of the state of the art for some time now (and this even though the CRJ has yet to be released, which is an amazing feat in itself). X-Plane France has crafted such a bird as well - the Alpha-Jet A, E, and P.A.F. series of aerobatic trainers. What amazed me the first time I flew these aircraft in X-Plane was how responsive they were, and how realistic the immersive 3D cockpit is. What is simply unreal is the price charged by the developers: Nothing. Nada. Zip dollars and zero centavos! AMAZING!

XPFR has already created a huge number of excellent sceneries for airports located primarily in France, yet they have developed a stable of stunning aircraft as well, from WWI bi-planes to unique, up-to-date general aviation trainers. To me, the crowning glory of this effort is the AlphaJet E, seen above. She has a 3D cockpit complete with a smattering of the latest manipulator technology, including a truly gorgeous canopy animation that’s just plain fun to watch. The

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files include representatives from air forces in France, Belgium and Germany, including the national aerobatic teams for France and Portugal.First, the cockpits…

As you can see in the image b e l o w, t h e s e fi l e s i n c l u d e fantastic 3D cockpits. The A and E models include a Heads-Up-Display (HUD) while the very special PAF variant does away with the HUD, and replaces it w i t h s o m e t h i n g q u i t e extraordinary. Let’s cover the first two before talking about the third.

In the image below, within the yellow square, you see the red knobbed handle with the mouse pointer now a gripping hand? Grasp the red handle and “pull back”… the canopy opens! Push forward and the canopy closes. This is a fantastic implementation of 3D manipulator technology. You can toggle the appearance of the control yoke as well; personally I toggle it off as the yoke can block seeing the HSI.

The file opens with engines running, however if you wish you can start the engines and wake up the avionics. Set flaps to the first detent and null out trim tabs while you head out to the runway, and note that while you’re indeed sitting low to the ground you have excellent forward visibility. Line up on the centerline and apply full throttle, rotate at 150 knots, and get the gear up when you have a

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positive rate of climb. I leave the flaps down until reaching 180 knots, and be careful because you lose a lot of lift when you retract them and can easily lose a couple hundred feet if not paying close attention. Dial in a little nose up trim and let her speed build up to 250 kts as you climb out. She’ll easily run on out to 400 kts in no time once you level out, but note that passing 500 kts will bring on all kinds of instability, especially if you’re down in the weeds.

As befits a trainer, the AlphaJet has an very g o o d a r r a y o f instruments, however you’ll quickly find a couple of flaws in this area. The autopilot is awful, but really, who cares? You don’t fly this a/c to drone away the hours on auto. The ADF is similarly useless, as there’s no ADF head. And finally, the night

lighting could use some improvement, particularly as the HSI is almost impossible to see at night.If you’re using this aircraft to perform acrobatics, these three deficiencies are not bothersome. It’s only when you use her as a trainer that you find these issues to be an annoyance. Frankly, the flight model in this file is so good you’ll probably be tempted to use her for all kinds of flying. She’s really one of the very best flying sims available in X-Plane, and a good autopilot - as well as dual channel ADFs and good lighting on the HSI - would make her as close to perfect as you’re likely to find. You could use this file for almost a n y k i n d o f training you’d care to undertake...and I hope XPFR will update her so soon. I truly enjoy flying this bird as much as any other airplane I have for X-Plane. Again… she’s that good.

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A WORD ABOUT THE PAF FILE

The PAF AlphaJet, resplendent in her red-white-blue Patrouille de France livery, is a fantastic addition to X-Plane. As I mentioned, you lose the HUD found in the A and E models, but you gain something far more interesting… a curious looking CRT display in mid-panel which is home to some formidable goodies.First, you should look into the activities of the Patrouille de France. They are a first class aerobatic team whose members come from the French Air Force. The current leader of the team is Virginie Guyot, the first woman in history to lead a demonstration team. Their official website is located here:

http://www.patrouilledefrance.net/ Digging through this site reveals PDF files of the team’s formations (and names thereof), which you may find useful as you begin to explore the PAF file, because when you activate a few of the items on your screen, something weird and wonderful unfolds before your eyes:

The AlphaJet in the cockpit image above is standing still on the tarmac, the other AJs are floating down to take up position around her. They settle slowly, take up position around you, and you begin to realize that you are about to do something that you’ve only dreamed of before. You’re going to get to fly formation with some of the best pilots in the world!

Once in position, the formation looks like this:

You are in the a/c directly behind the lead aircraft. I recommend setting the formation up right as you taxi onto the runway centerline: you set the formation you want to deploy on your screen, then take off. You can redeploy formations as you wish, creating your own airshow based on real formations that the PAF demonstrates in their performances. It takes a while to get the hang of it, but there’s nothing else like it in X-Plane.

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The A Model AlphaJet comes standard in the livery of Portugals national demonstration team, the Asas de Portugal (the Wings of Portugal). Unique in only employing two aircraft, this team performed what has to have been some of the closest formation flying in the world:

http://www.asasdeportugal.com.pt/content/home

Sadly, the team was recently deactivated, but what has to be one of the most strikingly handsome liveries of all t ime has been immortalized for X-Pilots all around the world!

Once again, I have to express my sincere admiration for the artists who toil away at XPFR, and to say Thank You Very Much for all you’ve given us! You have helped make X-Plane into the growing force that it is!

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