Hi western.
I've had the flap bug that others have listed before, and have not only the F-18/Av-8 mod downloaded to recent version (including S3's new Java pack) but your most recent engine mod patch (from last link in Engine Mod 2.7 thread) in a sort of "stand by" in the archives I downloaded them in.
What confuses me is that according to you, the newest files should have January 13 and 14 datestamps, but the most recent files in the mod are from Jan. 6. I have even re-downloaded to be sure. And despite the fact that I live in the Midwest USA and my computer's internal clock is fast by an hour, I don't think the time difference should be that extreme.
The name of the archive that I extracted the patch from is "SAS_Engine_2.7_patch_western_20150114," if that helps any.
The oddest thing is that despite no flaps, I have had little to no difficulty landing or taking off (from ground strips. I don't have angled deck carriers yet), and the same goes for the AV-8.
However, I would like the mod to work as they say it should work
The last time I downloaded the Marine Aviation pack (plus original java pack) was the 14th, with the new java pack dl'ed on the 16th, ditto for the Engine mod patch.
I have the SAS Common Utils 1.07 mod, I have the 2.7 Engine mod patched with the most recent Engine mod patch I can find, Jetwar 1.33, the HD True Colors mod, and, of course, 4.12.2 with Modact 5.30.
I hope this can help.
Ta183Huckebein