April Fools is now in the rearview mirror but I thought it’d be good to round-up some of the pranks that we saw from across the community. Flight simmers and developers of fight sim products definitely like to have fun with the day and some of the efforts were really impressive.
The Airbus T1
If you ever looked at an Airbus airliner and thought, this would be better as a classic VW Camper Van, the Airbus T1 is for you! This hilarious April Fools gag put together a free X-Plane module to goof around in.
You can download it for yourself and have a fun time flying this “aircraft” (put generously) around via the X-Plane.org files.
BalsaXtended from TFDi
TFDi, the developers of the MD-11 for Microsoft Flight Simulator, decided to have their own fun with the BalsaXtended for MSFS 2024. When asked on Facebook in the comments if it was real, here’s what they said:
Yes, it’s real – try it out, it’s fun.
Unfortunately, it seems like it was a one day only event and its no longer available. I wish it were!
Glass cockpit for your T-38A?
Veco Simulations, the developers behind an impressive looking freeware T-38A Talon for DCS World shared their own vision for what a “glass cockpit” should be in this classic advanced jet trainer.
Which do you prefer? A trio of iPads and an iPhone taped up in the cockpit… or maybe you like your glass cockpit to be a little more literal. Hah!
Mirage plays the French national anthem
r/Hoggit user “MacWin-” reported that the DCS: M2000C suddenly started playing the French national anthem in place of the usual RWR warning tones. I hope someone got a video of it because I missed that!
Baltic Dragon “developing UH-60”
In a post that read like a real product announcement, DCS World campaign maker posted this April Fools in such a way that a lot of people were wondering if this was indeed something happening. Throw in the very real desire for a UH-60 module and this one definitely got folks attention.
Here’s the post:
After nearly 10 years of developing campaigns for DCS World, I feel it’s time to take the next step. Today I’m incredibly excited to share that I have officially started work on a new project — an official UH-60M Black Hawk module for DCS World!
This has been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. After working closely with real pilots, building highly detailed, story-driven experiences, and learning more about the platform than I ever expected… it feels like the right moment to expand into full module development.
Planned features include:
– Full-fidelity UH-60M cockpit with clickable controls
– Advanced flight model based on real-world data
– Fully simulated T700 engines and systems
– Multi-crew support (pilot / co-pilot / crew chief roles)
– Functional cargo and troop transport mechanics
– Sling loading operations
– Advanced navigation and communication systems
– Detailed damage model
– Immersive sound environment
This is still early days, but development is already underway and I’ll be sharing more updates as things progress. Thank you all for your continued support over the years — I wouldn’t be here without you!
That sounds pretty good! But alas, it is an April Fools prank too.
Of course, there is a well developed community mod version of the UH-60 out there that is worth a look too!
What did you see?
Those were some of the pranks that I spotted. What did you see that you thought was worth a mention?
Stormbirds 
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