Lockheed Martin Darkstar

1,695 XEX01Calibarn 1.7 years ago

1,836 downloads

Military Experimental Reconnaissance United States Mobile Friendly

Version with some minor fixes here

They want Mach 10? Let's give 'em Mach 10.

-- Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Top Gun Maverick (2022)

Forgive me for posting yet another version of this one, but I managed to finally rework the cockpit similar to the Darkstar in the Microsoft Flight Simulator. I also reintroduced features from the previous versions of this jet, and fixed some anomalies.

FIXES AND NEW FEATURES

revamped cockpit interior
gloss livery
changed the positions of some cockpit interior parts
added red switch caps
new cockpit labels
radar is now miniaturized and is now located in front of the pilot
changed the color of the radar
new radar design
changed the colors of the roll indicator screen
reintroduced Synthetic Vision System to assist in landing and to see what's in front of the aircraft
removed one of the two braking parachutes. Changed the size of the parachute from 300% to 400%. Parachute is now white in color with black stripes
scramjet engines now produce a bluish afterburner
some tweaks to the left and right turbines
updated the craft instructions

NOTES

I also added a gyroscope AG5 to make the aircraft stable while flying at hypersonic speeds at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. At that altitudes, manually level the aircraft and activate AG5, then activate autopilot. In the previous version of this Darkstar, the jet becomes highly unstable if autopilot is enabled while flying at high speeds at said altitudes.

During test runs, I prefer to take off and fly this thing at cruising speed until I reach 20,000 feet, in which where I deactivate engine 1 AG1 and engine 2 AG2 and then engage scramjets AG3 and the gyroscope AG5 for hypersonic flight up to altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet.

Be advised. This speedy boi takes forever to turn at hypersonic speeds. I prefer to fly this thing in a straight path, though.

Lockheed Martin Darkstar
Hypersonic test aircraft
In-game name: Lockheed Martin Darkstar (AV-2)

CONTROLS

AG1 = left engine power
AG2 = right engine power
AG3 = engage scramjets
AG4 = navigation lights
AG5 = gyroscope
AG6 = landing parachutes

FLIGHT INSTRUCTIONS

Read carefully. Craft instructions are also available in-game.

Taxiing

Maintain throttle at 1%. Apply brakes if necessary.

Hypersonic flight

Once you have taken off, maintain pitch angle at 20 to 25 degrees and climb to 20,000 - 25,000 feet, or at any altitudes to your liking. Once you've reached your desired altitude, shut down engine no. 1 AG1 and engine no. 2 AG2. Wait for a few seconds for them to shut down completely, then hit scramjets AG3 while once again maintaining the pitch angle at 20 to 25 degrees.

DO NOT pitch the aircraft at 30° and above or you may have difficulty in leveling the aircraft. Climb up to altitudes of 80,000 - 100,000 feet while manually leveling the aircraft. Once the aircraft is now flying horizontally, activate the gyroscope AG5 before enabling autopilot. Now wait for the jet to hit Mach 10.

DO NOT activate scramjets on takeoff or the plane will lose control.

The aircraft has four engines in total: two for cruising speeds and another two for hypersonic flight. The engines located inside the outer engines and with the activation group number of 3 are the ones used to make the jet go hypersonic. You can edit its XML if you are not satisfied with the aircraft's speed.

@Mattflat101's ORIGINAL DARKSTAR