Sulman

That mission's good for practicing movement and terrain masking, but be warned, it's very hard. The reason is Many units are obscured by trees; this works in their favour, but not in yours. There's better missions out there, you will find this one frustrating after a while.

Haha, his display the next day was pretty conservative, understandably!

Looks AA-11 or Amraam sort of scale.

Vulcan at FI 2008. Red Hat's office in the background. Nice view I should think.

Shows how hard those vehicles are to see. Lovely Autumn colours. KC-10 RNLAF Demo F-16

Wonderful pictures. I'm curious about the alcohol quote - Alex Zuyev (MiG-29 defector) wrote that the VVS were highly disciplined about alcohol and physical conditioning. For instance, any hint of alcohol from the night before, or any less than eight hours sleep, and the flight surgeon would normally ground the pilot. To contribute: MiG-23MF, Poland. C-17, Royal Air Force. Gripen.

Yes. It certainly drummed into you that low-level was all well and good, up until you zoomed into a SHORAD environment. It was always easier a bit later in the campaign when you could go in at high altitude.

I agree. It still confuses me.

I think (if memory serves from the 29G published manual) there is some kind of elevator push on slat extension on the MiG-29 (centre of pressure changes on slats deploying) but I don't know if that is what we can hear. I haven't heard this noise on any other cockpit vid, so perhaps it is a limiter of some sort. Fascinating video.

I used to have terrible trouble with colliding with enemy fighters in the F3, especially if I tried to scissor or barrel roll. I liked the simple tactical model. >20k feet, safe from Sams and AAA, but at risk from fighters. Also, there was the minimum engagement height for sams as well - something like <100ft? If you could get down there you'd basically be untouchable, but the TFR autopilot wouldn't go that low, so it was by hand. Actually, the more I think about it, the more nostalgic I get!

Yep, still got the CD. It was very good (mission planner is still unparalleled) but my point is we've come so far that simulating a two-man aeroplane would now be terrifyingly complex. Tornado was very well executed in that it was kept just simple enough to play on your own, and having a near-perfect learning curve. I don't think any sim has managed the LGB delivery as enjoyably as Tornado did, with the mouse control. F4AF has probably come the closest for me, in terms of immersion and 'being part of something'.

Perhaps, but I do an awful lot of SP too. One way round it would be a customisable / plannable AI that allows you to effectively work as a gunner / observer in a helo. Ordering the pilot into several prescribe maneuvers: 'Hover' 'Break right with flares / Break left with flares' 'Orbit' etc.

I bought FC 2.0 straight away (as much to support ED and for future play) but came back to BS quickly. FC is superb, but I'm not done with BS by a long shot. I still do not consider myself to have got far enough with it, and, to be quite frank, when I don't play it, I miss it. The KA50 gives you a different relationship with the DCS world. It is hard to describe but you definitely look at things differently. One thing I did do is import a couple of missions from BS into FC 2.0, just to try it out from the Toady-T's perspective. I learnt one thing, above all: Cooperative missions are going to be very, very interesting. SU25 is fast enough to draw Sams and survive (the main threat to the 'Shark), the KA50 can easily provide help and targeting info on a target area. I cannot wait to 'work a town' with some MP frog pilots.

I hope ED do not simulate a two-man bird. The fidelity they approach their modelling with, it will be very, very hard work. Literally the work of two men. That goes for the Mi-24 and AH64. The KA-50 was an ideal choice as it was designed to be single-pilot operation; the automation reflects this. I miss DI's Tornado as much as the next sim enthusiast, but I think it's time to let go.

Superfetch / Prefetch is very impressive in Win 7. Hence the more memory you give a Win 7 box, the more it will gobble up. It does do a better job than XP did.

In the UK, I couldn't find a new copy. Plenty of good 2nd hand ones available from the US though. I think I paid about £25 for a hardback.

Real pilots have one huge advantage - their asses. You get a serious amount of sensory feedback through your backside in an aircraft. Of course, you have to learn to ignore it when learning instruments, but still, feel is an important thing.

It's really hard. Long setup helps - It's a bit like landing. Pick out the target, and setup slowly. I stay on heading (the target is the reference point) with a gentle attitude, about 5 degrees down, and wait for the pipper to converge on target, and release. Turn around, head back out, and have another run - you can pick them up again on the TV quite easily once you're trimmed for the approach. Infantry's resilience to rockets exploding a few metres away always gives me a laugh. They're very brave.

Turns were - and remain - the hardest part of the shark for me. Using the AP channels, I set the required bank angle and trim it in. I then coordinate the turn using the rudder. You can create considerable turn rate at low speed, and this is what leads to uncoordinated flight and 'sideslip hell' when you attempt to arrest it. The trick is anticipation and early rollout, and watch the ball - as you roll out of the turn (gently, trim a lot) take care to remain coordinated. It's timing the rollout correctly and executing it smoothly. Too quick and the helicopter has high inertia pushing you to the outside circle of the turn, and you're in a sideslip. This is more easily corrected using the cyclic, as the rudder will only have authority in yaw once the helicopter is level, and you'll end up 'coning' - swinging the nose about in a sideslip. James

http://www.codeonemagazine.com/archives/1993/articles/apr_93/apra_93.html I haven't read this before, and found it looking for more info on Alexander Zuyev (whose excellent book 'Fulcrum' I'm reading at the moment). A fascinating snapshot into Russia and the West's situation of the time. His comments about the idiosyncracies of the industry generally and the Communist era are very interesting. Particularly talented, well educated staff completely dropping their vocations to hop on the money train. Worth a read.

Indeed. When I was learning the best habit I learnt was attitude, attitude, attitude. Also, wait'n'see. At some point, a combination of muscle memory and and hand-eye coordination settles in, and you get ahead of the Shark. I still end up occasionally in what I call 'sideslip hell'; a combination of hasty maneuver and fighting the stability channels, whilst frantically trying to trim attitude in. Much of that is down to me learning trim the 'prescribed' way, rather than holding it down. I don't like the dramatic change in control feedback when trim is held down; I've got used to the breakaway forces needed when working with the AP channels.

I find you connect with the map a lot more in BS. It's stunning in parts, and you get used to all the little details and locations. As for the AP, it took me a long time to adjust, but sure as night follows day, if you put the time in you get a lot better at it. I feel the difference to fix wing is that you don't really 'point' the KA50; you finesse it into going where you want. This actually isn't all that different to my fixed wing experience in a Cessna. The instructor always told me to feel the airflow and pressures through the controls and watch how the aircraft and instruments hint at what will follow. BS does a good job considering you have no feel at all, and limited references.

It is one of the changes that BS brings. If it has a gun, it will shoot at you. I think it's pretty cool.

It's possible that Win 7 is simply grabbing the memory for performance purposes; in reality you've probably got plenty available. I think 4gb should be more than enough. I doubt BS being native 32bit won't actually be using all that much.

Interesting. Are there any sources for the Iraqi actions? I'm curious about the MiG-25 performance.