DM Flight Sim HS121 Trident

The HS121 Trident is a classic short/medium-range three-engined airliner built by Hawker Siddeley Aviation. The first flight of the Trident 1 took place on 9 January 1962 and entered service with British European Airways on 1 April 1964. The Trident was powered by three Rolls-Royce Spey engines. The Trident 3B got a fourth engine in the tail, fed from a separate duct on top of the normal one. The development of the Trident started with the Trident 1 and ended with the stretched and improved Super Trident 3B. The Trident was a very advanced aircraft for its time. It was the first commercial aircraft that could auto approach/land, the first commercial aircraft fitted with a flight data recorder and also had the unusual capability to use reverse thrust in flight. Another advanced feature was a moving map display on the centre instrument panel, indicating the aircraft position over a motor-driven paper roll. Despite the many advanced features and the fact that no Trident ever crashed due to a design flaw or mechanical failure, it was with only 117 airframes produced not a commercial success.

DM Flight Sim is developer of freeware classic British jet airliners. Their HS121 Trident is a nice model with panel, virtual cockpit and custom sounds. All usual animations are present and seem to be accurate. There are 2 different models available, the Trident 2 and the larger Trident 3. Both models are available in virtual cockpit and wingview version. The exterior looks great and the liveries aren't bad either. The panel looks authentic, the majority of the buttons and knobs are clickable. One of the sub-panels is a dynamic checklist for takeoff, climb and approach.

The flight dynamics are not bad, the control inputs are a bit slow, just like it should be on an old aircraft. The autopilot works perfectly, although it is very different from a Boeing or Airbus autopilot. Even the autoland feature works! Engine smoke appears automatically when the engines are at full power. The virtual cockpit looks nice, not bad for freeware. Knobs and buttons in the vc are 2d textures and also clickable. Interesting feature is the small icons panel which allows you to choose various views, zoom in and out and display the sub-panels.

--