Required skill level: High
AI Efficiency: Low

Lore:
After the short service life of the multirole F/A-125, The Piper was upgraded into the Kestrel paying tribute to the original VTOL fighter that inspired the "Piper" project. Building on the already proven platform. Upgrades were made to the vehicles engine, and airframe. In addition the 4 engine design from the original prototype was brought back, along with extra flaps for stability in high speed flight, and improved fuel efficiency which was an issue with the F/A-492. This aircraft retained it's folding wing so it could fit in an LAC carrier.

This aircraft features a very agile platform that can take on aggressive angles of attack. Though not the easiest to fly craft to fly compared to the 1 button VTOL approach of the F/A-125, the XF-428 was intended to be more of a dogfighter than a multi-role attacker. Features like vectorizing thrust, and the ability to switch between 2 and 4 engines was seen as tools that a pilot could use in a fight and shouldn't be compromised.

Takeoff:
As you activate Group 2 and ascend, and activate Group 4 for stabiliy, at altitude you activate group 1 which is the main flight engine. With this plane full power is all three engines, so you will need to push VTOL setting up which will take the plane out of VTOL mode.

Landing:
With VTOL landing mode, you want to set the VTOL settings back to neutral and pull back, Disable Group 1 and reengage Group 2 and 4 which is the VTOL nozzles and Gyros, at this point you can land it like a helicopter.

Please note you may need to bring each group engine group back to 0% first before switching to another engine group. The game will not set automatically set VTOL and the Flights to 0% when you switch.

Controls:
AG1-Main Engine (bring to 0% to switch)
AG2-VTOL Engine (bring to 0% to switch)
AG3/VTOL- Missle Bay Doors
AG4- Gyro/Landing and Autopilot Assist
AG5- Fold Wings
AG6- Lights