Sulman

A few A-10C themed entries from RIAT yesterday :)

More Yeovilton: The French visitors put on an absolutely amazing show. I think the Rafale was easily the most agile thing in the sky that day; incredible showmanship. Super Etendard. I grew up reading about these, forever associating them with Exocets and HMS Sheffield. Curious I should first see one at a Royal Navy base.

More Yeovilton.

Yeovilton Air Day 2011. Hot of the press today :) Cheers James

OR "Jesus, how much does this f**king thing cost?!"

It's possible the crew did not fully comprehend how much trouble they were in; hopefully it was a similar case for the souls in the cabin.

Actually, this is an interesting paradigm shift from the community. There are many of us that did buy Arma (1) for the Campaign, because CWC in the original was so utterly brilliant and immersive. Strange that BI have trained us to accept that we don't necessarily expect a good campaign system out of the box.

I see a resemblance. You don't. I wasn't asking for a debate. Move along.

You'd argue with a signpost, wouldn't you? Proportions & general form show Su27 lineage, if you prefer.

I do love how it is clearly descended from the Su-27. A very elegant looking aircraft.

This is actually a great feature. I really notice it in BS & any titles that have long load times - the 2nd run is much, much quicker.

You're talking fractions of a degree, there. I don't think one should be so dismissive of post-stall maneuverability. Stating it is redundant because of the capability of AAM's is very simplistic, not unsimilar to the belief that the cannon was finished in the 1950's for the same reasons. If cruise drag efficiency was a primary design criteria then the design of the F-22, Sukhoi and MiG TVC systems would not have featured such ambitious nozzle capability, capable of large angles off the engine centreline, as this is very challenging to design for in terms of weight, reliability, and maintenance.

He let his son drive that day.

Mysterious RPM rollback (in the sim) is definitely a symptom of icing. You can switch them on as part of your checklist items - there's a small power penalty but - if in doubt - (I've seen a few MP scenarios where this has caught me out) switch them on. Annunciators are just above the front window.

With the heading channel engaged (with turn-to-target selected), the helicopter will stil not quite line up the reticles - this displacement you see is quite normal. You need a hint of rudder to squeeze off the shot. As Riptide suggests, holding down trim whilst adjusting your aim will lockout the holds and allow you to point where you like, but be careful doing this in autohover - you can destabilise the aircraft if you're not careful.

I've yet to see a curves setting that can hold a hover at rooftop level whilst you scan terrain with shkval. I've yet to see a curves setting that allows you to plan an approach on ABRIS whilst at 5 metres NOE at 280KPH The tools are there for you to use.

The KA50 is stable and can be easily flown without the channels engaged. Now. The question is, why would you? On the DCS battlefield there's plenty of thinking you need to do in order to carry out your task and survive. Why fight the machine when you have to fight everything else?

It's actually pretty handy in the hover, and cruise. It has limited authority but if you're trimmed correctly it'll hold your height perfectly. The other thing I forgot to mention is have a look at the collective and check the route mode, specifically checking it's in the middle position. It's controlled by the 'r' key. If it's up then the aircraft will try and point at whatever waypoint you have selected. It's a bit gotcha as it is not obvious.

As an addition, I would say the holds are great aids to flying. For example, sideslipping is laughably easy with the holds engaged. Just trim for hover, and gently push the stick left or right. Heading hold will look after the yaw & pitch hold the attitude. Likewise small movements backwards and forwards become very easy. KA50 automation is wonderful once you get what it is doing.

Alt hold being on really isn't a problem. That channel - like all the others - only has 20% authority and changing altitude with it engaged is probably the easiest of all the axis. If you have heading, roll, and pitch channels engaged, you should not have any creep in the aircraft's heading, assuming you are trimmed correctly. Two possible scenarios: 1) The heading channel will use beta input (yaw) to maintain the last trimmed heading; this will create the scenario you described if you deviate from this heading. Pedal input will allow you to point the helicopter's nose where you see fit, but as soon as your input diminishes to within the heading channel's authority, it will revert. This is resolved by updating (pressing and releasing trim) once you are on your desired heading. 2) You have trimmed in some rudder. A hazard with none-force feedback pedals. If this trimmed in rudder exceeds the AP's authority, your heading will drift unless you manually correct it. A quick press of the 'x' or 'z' key (you can map these, naturally) will drop it back to centre. You really have to train yourself to be very careful with rudder trim in the shark, I would simply say 'avoid' if you can. I.e., get the aircraft pointed where you want it with and try to trim after you're done with your pedal inputs, otherwise you can get into a real mess. Cheers James

Alternatively, if your engines are shut down and your door is open (I've not tried with engines running and an open door), you can refuel and rearm. I like that little touch.

Unpopular as this may be, I would like to see this happen sooner rather than later. FC2 already caters for ground pounders, and fast-movers can fight each other, if they want. FC2 is great fun, but I think it's time to move on, compatibility-wise.

If you can fly the shark, you can fly anything...

BR - Don't get hung up on hover. This may seem counterintuitive, but fly the helicopter around a bit. Slow flight is the hardest thing to master, and it's actually easier once you understand the responses and transitions the KA50 encounters throughout a typical flight profile. Don't be scared of the systems; just get it started and fly about. Worry about the switchology later.

A.Net rejections != to bad photographs. They do have a very strict requirements, some of which are entirely arbitrary. Out of curiousity what were the rejection reasons?