I rediscovered the fix in a RCAF repaint which has a different pilot texture, much better in my opinion:

And as I discovered after a lot of head-scratching, RealAir keeps the pilot texture in the MAIN texture folder, not with the aircraft. So don't think you can back it up and simply put it back after a re-install...
What's this to do with NZFF? Well, I wondered how many online flyers there were with this plane. I might be stirred from deep lethargy, if there were a chance to fly a bit of formation, say over Wanaka


