Sometimes I’m caught up in flying the latest and greatest aircraft releases but there are other times where I want to go back and just enjoy some aircraft that I bought (and reviewed) before. This week, Just Flight’s excellent Fokker F28 regional jet airliner has recaptured my attention thanks to the recent news on the Fokker F70 and F100 development. Here are some flights and my current thoughts on the venerable jet!

The (KLM) city hopper!

First flight with the F28 in this series was a quick hop from Amsterdam down to Cologne with the KLM City Hopper F28 Mk 4000.

This short flight was a good way to remember how some of the F28’s systems work and re familiarize myself with the airplane. I remembered quite a bit but had forgotten a few other things (like arming the lift dumpers). Fortunately, there’s plenty of resources out there including manual and video tutorials direct from Just Flight.

After a short wait at the end of a busy runway, it was up into the sky and a quick turn to the south east as I climbed up to about 22,000 feet. I set a higher cruise altitude but we never made it there. I ended up descending having never reached my planned cruise altitude. Note to self for future short hops!

Then it was a setup for a visual arrival on Runway 24 at Cologne. The landing was a bit hairy but survivable so we’ll call that good. They got better from here fortunately.

This was a great first flight, however, I think some of the photogrammetry at Cologne was causing performance problems as I had some of the worst stutters I’d seen in months or years. Fortunately, follow-up flights would prove that it wasn’t the F28’s fault as the aircraft is running great.

Air Anglia over to Dublin

Flying with some liveries I haven’t tried yet, this second flight in the series had me back in the Mk4000 with an Air Anglia liveried hop from Liverpool to Dublin. I’m not sure if the airline ever flew that route but the scenery options helped me choose the route – Liverpool with its yellow submarine and Dublin because it was a recent scenery purchase. As near as I can tell, the company did fly to Dublin but from their base at Cardiff.

Off into the fair weathered skies and a beautiful setting sun late in the day made for some great visuals. And some more reminders and lessons of how best to fly and manage the F28.

Descending for a landing with the slick F28 and its tail cone air brake is harder than with more modern aircraft. That and a late descent call from ATC meant a go around and a much better approach on the second time around. That landing was about as buttery as I can make it which is probably not saying much but it sure felt good!

US Air from Milwaukee to London (Ontario)

We’ve been having a lot of storms all across North America in the last several days and that experience typified my flight from iniBuilds new freeware KMKE Milwaukee airport over to London, Ontario. Wearing a US Air livery, the F28 takes on a slightly different look in this scheme and I really love it!

Departing from the airport with towering storm clouds all around, I navigated the F28 through the worst of it before slowly climbing out over some dramatic skies all across Michigan.

Things cleared up as we crossed the border into Canada. From there it was a gentle descent into London’s International Airport and one of my better landings despite some shifting winds on the final.

A short TAT flight from Paris to London

The storms found me again with my next flight. Flying a short hop from Paris to London, I found myself flying the striking yellow and blue livery of TAT airlines. This time I was away from the Fokker Mk 4000 and into the 2000 with its lengthened fuselage but original shorter wings.

Charles Du Gaulle airport was surrounded by tower clouds and heavy rain when I started the jet up. By the time I had taxiied to the runway things had cleared up slightly but departing into the stormy skies was very dramatic.

Much of the flight was flown in the clear but dark, stormy skies were prominent to the east of us. Just my kind of flying!

We crossed The Channel with clear skies but things thickened up again over England. Descending into Heathrow was interesting with us largely dodging the clouds and having a clear view to the runway. But the skies were certainly looking moody and ready to storm at any time.

Landed and parked!

Falling in love all over again

Just Flight’s F28 I flew for several months after it was released in the summer of 2023 and then got caught up in some of the other airliners that I’ve been reviewing recently. I was curious what my impressions would be when I got back into the regional jet. However, after spending most of my MSFS time over the last couple of weeks in the jet I can I can safely say that I’ve fallen in love all over again and I stand by my review where I gave the F28 top marks.

Just Flight’s F28 doesn’t necessarily get the attention it deserves either with various Airbus and Boeing types from iniBuilds, PMDG, Fenix and others gathering more attention but I am very glad that Just Flight have gone and done this plane (and the BAe 146 as well). After they are done with the F70/F100, I hope they go and do Fokker’s F27 turboprop airliner too!

With its older systems and methods of navigation, classic airliner liveries, superb sounds, equall impressive visuals, and deep system modeling, there’s something for everyone with this jet. Its sporty enough that you can hand fly it and have a bit of fun but serious enough that you can fly it by the book and come away satisfied.

The aircraft has been updated a few times refining features and is currently sitting at version 1.3. I also feel like Just Flight have tuned its performance since I was last out with it. It certainly feels more framerate friendly than it did on launch. A significant update is set to bring the UNS-1 flight computer to the aircraft at some point in the future which will further bolster its capabilities and options too.

My excitement for what they are doing with the F70/F100 is only going up too. The more modern editions of the jet series will likely appeal to more traditional airliner fans when the classic nature of the F28 may put a few off. But I also suspect it will retain much of the charm that the F28 has. Can’t wait to try them out!