I got the YAK-52 during the 2021 Steam Autumn Sale and it was love at first sight. The sensation of flying with an open cockpit is fantastic, I could close the canopy but I choose to leave it open for every fligt. And sometimes it's just nice to take off and land a prop plane that doesn't try to kill you in the process. I like to just do some sight seeing and practice patterns, and even if I could do this in any module, somehow doing it in a trainer feels more 'right'. And the option of disabling different instruments for the student is cool, and I look forward to experimenting further with this.
But, I feel I must join the chorus of pilots that laments the shortcomings of the module...
The lack of damage model might easily lead to negative training, since the aircraft, and you, survive even harsh aircraft to ground interaction completely unscathed.
The lack of communication options with tower etc. detracts from the immersion, it might be just me, but I cant open the communication menu with the "/" key, nor if I bind it to a joystick button.
The keybinds for HOTAS are lacking or not working, can't bind kneeboard to the HOTAS, for example the comm menu will bind, but doesn't have any effect.
I would really like to see, the YAK-52 getting some love from the people who assign work packages for the guys and girls who do the actual coding. Make it a priority to get the plane to a finished state, preferably to the same level as the P-47 but least enough to reach the minimum expectations to a complete module.
I have bought pretty much every module, map and campaign as a way to support content creators and have pre-ordered the Apache. But even though I'm looking forward to the Apache, my wish for Christmas would be to have more finished modules, rather than more work-in-progress or even stagnant modules. Alternatively, cut your loses and officially discontinue the module and be a sport and offer a refund, at least partially, for the pilots who bought and funded the development of it with the legimate expectation that it would be finished. Managing expectations is one of the things that in my proffesional life distingushises professional business partners.
Thank you for your passion - and hopefully for the support of existing modules...
/TR