F70/100 Professional

In our first F70/F100 In-development update of the year, we wanted to showcase a significant milestone that has just been reached in the project.

When developing an aircraft for any flight simulator, one of the most difficult aspects is getting access to a real aircraft for sound recording. With older aircraft types, this can be easier as there are some very dedicated and helpful museums that preserve their aircraft and allow us to record sounds. This will allow us to record sounds such as switches, levers and doors, and sometimes, even record systems that may be operational. But in most cases, we won’t be able to record engine sounds from these aircraft as the engines are likely no longer functional, or may not be fitted to the aircraft at all, so the engine sounds have to be sourced via other means.

With modern aircraft types, especially rarer ones, it becomes even more difficult to be granted access to an active aircraft, and it is incredible unlikely we'll be given full access and permission to place a selection of microphones around the aircraft during a full power engine run. Well, we are pleased to announce that after years of perseverance, our partners at SimAcoustics have done just that. In the first few weeks of 2024, they were granted access to record an engine run of the type’s last operational aircraft in Europe!

Mike at SimAcoustics shares his experience of the day below:

“In the previous year(s) several attempts were made to organise a recording of a real Fokker 70/100. In the final few months of 2023 things started to move in the right direction and at the start of 2024 we were provided the opportunity to attend a maintenance run up at Woensdrecht/Hoogerheide (The Netherlands).

Packed with our recording equipment we arrived at the crack of dawn. To our utter amazement we found not 1, not 2, but 3 Fokker jets all being lined up for engine runs! As the Fokker jets are no longer being operated in passenger service in Europe (the final operator retiring their jets in the final few months of 2023), witnessing this event alone was already extraordinary.

Conditions were challenging for the aircraft and equipment alike as the temperature was around the level of freezing, with chilling north-eastern winds and occasional snowfall to boot! While setting up the recording equipment the engines of the Fokker 70 were being de-iced as that would be the first aircraft to run. Fortunately the de-icing procedure all worked out and with the fan blades now clean, final checks were made by the crew and all was ready to go. The RR Tay 620s gently started up and as RPMs increased the engine produced that typical and very recognizable jet whine. As this was a low power engine run, we couldn't capture the fan noise just yet... but that would get sorted soon enough.

In the afternoon the weather cleared up a bit and the Fokker 100 was prepared to run. With the equipment largely in place and perhaps aided by a bit of sunshine, preparations went much faster. Interesting to note here is that starting up the RR Tay 650 sounds very different from the 620 we heard just before, as the introduction of fuel into the 650's turbine happens in stages. After the engine was properly warmed up, we were treated to the full power band, the roar of the fan being especially impressive!”

So there we have it. We now have brand new, high-quality engine recordings of the F70 and F100! Following on from the Vulcan, F28, and 146, each with their own critically acclaimed sound sets, the F70/F100 has a lot to live up to, but we are sure it will not disappoint!

Below are couple of photographs taken by SimAcoustics on the day of the sound recording, and a teaser of one of the large selection of liveries that our livery artist has been busy creating for the F70 and F100. More information on those in a future in-development update!

In our previous F70/100 Professional Dev entry, we focused on the exterior and cabin. However, this doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy at the business end. In fact, the entire cockpit has been completely revamped for the next generation.

Using new reference photographs from an in-service aircraft, the cockpit has been totally reworked with brand new high-resolution textures. Using cutting-edge techniques, we bring you an unprecedented amount of detail right down to individual screw heads and authentic wear and tear, representative of a well-used but serviceable aircraft from the real world. Many hours have been spent color-matching the various parts of the cockpit and tweaking the materials to give an authentic feel. As with our previous aircraft, the textures will be shipped at both standard and high detail, which you will be able to choose depending on your system specifications.

It’s not only the textures which have received a refresh. Dozens of switches and knobs have been totally remodeled to give the highest levels of detail. Extra detailing has been added to the LCD bezels, and the CRT screens have been reworked to give an authentic curved look which will take you straight back to the late 80s when the aircraft first entered service.

Work continues with animating switches and instruments, tweaking lighting, integrating systems, and general bug fixes.

We look forward to sharing more progress of the Just Flight F70/100 Professional in 2024.

It’s been quite some time since our last Development update for our F70/100 Professional, but that’s not because work has ceased on the project. Quite the opposite in fact!

During the last few months, we have made significant improvements to the interior and exterior modelling and texturing, performance optimisation, as well as making some important progress on the systems coding. There are a lot of features we would like to cover and to give each area its own time to shine, we’ll split the improvements into various updates over the coming weeks and months.

In this update we will be covering the various door configurations and virtual cabins of the F100, and yes the use of plurals isn't a typo!

The F100 will come in the following variants: 1. Folding L1 Passenger Door with Integral Airstairs, Small Cargo Doors 2. Folding L1 Passenger Door with Integral Airstairs, Large Cargo Doors 3. Sliding L1 Passenger Door, Large Cargo Doors 4. Sliding L1 Passenger Door, Small Cargo Doors, Additional L2 Service Door.

Each of these door configurations are included in the product and are modelled on both the interior and exterior. Like our implementation in the F28 Professional, the cabin doors are also interactable from inside the cabin. One difference between the F28 and F100 is the way the doors are operated. In the F100, the L1 passenger door can be operated by means of pushbuttons on the panel above the door.

Some F100s were also fitted with an additional L2 service door just aft of the wing on the port (left) side of the fuselage with the purpose of speeding up turnaround times by allowing catering and cleaning services to access the aircraft as passengers deboard the forward L1 door. The door could also be used for passenger boarding and de-boarding. We have also modelled this configuration on both the interior and exterior which makes the cabin look significantly different, with an additional cabin attendant position and small peep-hole window beside the L2 service door.

All cabins are configured in a high-density 2+3 configuration, and they currently feature seats with a grey leather moquette, white headrests, and a blue carpet, representing a generic F100 cabin. You will, however, be able to be customise all these areas via the included paint kit, and we are also looking into supplying custom cabin colour schemes with the product’s included liveries.

A popular feature of our F28, the music reproducer, also features in the F100. The basic modelling and texturing of the panel is featured in the current build, with the finalised artwork and systems coding to come in the following months. We have a lot of fun ideas for this panel, and we want to take it up a notch from our implementation in the F28. We’ll share more information soon.

With the cabin models and door configurations now in the simulator, we can start working on polishing these areas, including fine tuning the artwork, and improving areas such as the cabin lighting, before then looking at implementing all these features into the F70.

We do hope this update and the attached screenshots have helped scratch an itch in providing an insight into what work we have been doing in the past few months. We look forward to sharing more in-development content in the coming weeks and months.

We're excited to be able to bring you our first full development entry for our Fokker 70 & 100 following the product announcement last year.

For the 100 variant, the cockpit and exterior models and textures and liveries are currently undergoing extensive testing. We’ve just finished adding all the dynamic cockpit and exterior lighting, and work will soon begin on the Fokker 70 variant and detailed passenger cabin.

We’ll bring you updates on those and the systems coding work in future In Development entries. For now enjoy this initial batch of WIP screenshots.