Yesterday was April 1 and that means its “April Fools’ Day” across several parts of the planet. Internet culture has taken the day to new levels with companies, individuals and organizations coming up with sometimes simple and sometimes elaborate schemes to mark the day. Here are a few that I spotted.
Big Radial’s rebrand
Folks have sometimes made fun of Big Radials for their brand name when they have also gone ahead and offered inline engine airplanes too (like the P-40B which I reviewed a while back). Their latest project features a radial engine but for April 1st they had a bit of fun with it by announcing a rebrand.
We’ve heard you loud and clear and we’d like to announce a rebranding and refocus to churn out lots of cheap large airliners. First cab off the rank will be a 777X, followed by an a380.
We’re also changing our motto to #FlyTheTubes or maybe #TubesFTW. Let us know which one you like more
I admit to giggling a fair bit about that one!
IndiaFoxtEcho announce FIAT 1107 Nuova Campagnola
The folks at IndiaFoxtEcho have done quite a job of offering a variety of aircraft across multiple flight sim platforms with their most recent releases in Microsoft Flight Simulator and DCS World offering up some very well done products.
For April 1st, they “announced” a FIAT 1107 Nuova Campagnola with a lengthy explanation of the work they were doing to make this extremely authentic. It even contains a line about not bringing it to DCS because of licensing issues. Hits all the marks for April 1st with a sly sense of humour that shows us that they know their audience well!
VKB’s ultra low profile, pre-heating stick
This one almost got me because its so subtle at first glance. VKB “announced” a new product called the GUNFIGHT B.E.T. Its ultra low profile and grip pre-heating features definitely had me chuckling once I figured out what they were doing.
Small haul
Those are the only ones that I saw this year with other developers posting that they have been busy and unable to spend time to come up with a gag for this year. Others too seem to have ignored the trend this year.
The flight sim community tried a few of their own. One person posted that Heatblur were releasing a B-52 flyable in a matter of weeks. Another stated that Magnitude-3’s long awaited F4U Corsair had just released. Another said the same thing but with an Su-27. One X-Plane fan managed to hew close to a wishlist with their Aprils Fools’ Day attempt by saying that Laminar Research were releasing a streaming orthography feature for X-Plane 12 in the next update. If only!
Spot any funny ones that I missed? Let me know in the comments!
Stormbirds 
Slightly off topic but as an Apprentice Butcher (way back in the day lol) my work mates got me by offering to make me a coffee which was usually the Apprentices job so I was just pretty stoked not to have to do it and didn’t think anything of it. The coffee came and I started sipping it and kept on working cutting up lamb legs. Every now and then to have a sip while working until I had gotten about half way down the coffee. Then I went to drink again and looked down into the coffee mug only to see a Cows eye staring back at me. They had put a cows eye into the mug and then filled the rest with coffee! April fools they cried. I never drank a coffee I didn’t make again.
Vengeance was mine later as I filled their work boots with ice and put them in the freezer overnight and they had to poor hot water on them to thaw them out when they got to work in the morning and wear wet boots all day lol.
LikeLike
The only one I noticed that caught me for a minute was Linus Tech Tips saying he was giving up his computer channels and starting a potato farm. It was really well done.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I did see that one. That was pretty good!
LikeLike
Virpil had a CM3 based throttle without base buttons on their Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cqe_9PHtl4b/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link (hope the link works).
I would actually buy that, but I assume it would cost more than 199.
LikeLike
You missed SRS announcing SRS+
———————————————————————-
SRS+ users will get the following features:
– The ability to always override radio range and line of sight settings
– Have priority on all radio transmissions so they can never be stepped on
– Have all their transmissions retransmitted on Guard so their transmissions are never missed
SRS+ users will also get access to the latest in technological innovations using AI deep learning technologies with a new mode that allows SRS to generate the correct radio callouts you should be doing. No more trying to remember your FOX 1 from your FOX 3, or saying GROUND FOX instead of PICKLE, SRS+ users will always sound MILSIM and professional on all their calls.
———————————————————————-
-> https://discord.com/channels/298054423656005632/419512435846938624/1091592531889881118
LikeLike
DCS F/A-18c Hornet Manual Audio Book
8 hours and 53 minutes
Listen along to the whole DCS F/A-18c Manual!* Lean how to fly the F/A-18c Hornet in Digital Combat Simulator. From the most basic startup to detailed weapons and systems use, checklists and much, much more. Includes acronyms and detailed diagrams along with the description.
source: Redkite (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc9FKqiQRF4)
LikeLike
Oh that’s a good one! I totally missed that.
LikeLike