Just to update this, I circumvented the issue by pulling forward slightly so the wingsweep on the F-14 doesn't touch me even if he extends them fully.
A couple close calls with aircraft taxiing right next to my nose, but I was able to finish the mission this way.
I did another test and waited another full 30 seconds after pushing RDR ALT on the FLT page. This time, it came on.
I think what confused me is that prior to this patch, if I used a cold & dark aircraft, the radar altimeter was already on by default when the aircraft got power. But now, there's an extra step of pressing RDR ALT and having to wait a good 25-30 seconds for the FLT page and the IHADSS to show 0 (if on the ground).
Nothing was said about the radar altimeter in the patch notes, so it caught me off guard when I didn't see it right away.
I'm going to mark this as solved, but I'll leave the title unedited in case someone else runs into the same issue I did and finds this thread.
Thanks for testing all!
@NineLine There is one issue remaining with the radar altimeter, which I just verified (it's really minor). A hot started aircraft can't turn off its radar altimeter. I tried using RDR ALT on the FLT page, but the altimeter stays on. This was also shown in one of the screenshots towards the top of the thread.
