VIMANAMAN

I've been using the brakes on lndg roll as the method of last resort i.e when the nose has gone beyond rudder control - and I have found judicious use of assymetric braking does do the trick, especially in combination with rudder / tailwheel inputs - even quite strong braking seems manageable, so long as I'm 'pulling' the tail down hard onto the deck at the same time - I come to a bit of a juddering halt (if i don't ease off) with an amount of zig-zagging, but I can regain and keep control of the nose this way and don't get even close to a prop strike so long as I stay awake. I'll try this NOT as the last resort and see how I get on, the brakes do seem to have a wide range of effectiveness using pedals anyway. Thanks Ttaylor0024. Re my earlier post about excessive bounce at touch down (I'm still running 1.2), I think I'm being inconsistent with my technique / skills whatever - I was reviewing a vid and half the time I seem to be 'putting it down' too early, when I'm a touch too high still. And as a result I often 'drop it' the last foot or so & that's bound to force the tail down / nose up on touchdown - So think this might be me? The level of fine control in this sim is truly awesome! And I'm still crepe at it! But it's fun exploring the depths.

I was thinking that wasn't such a big bounce, and then... ! Holy sheet! Ouch!!! Good skills keeping the prop out of the muck with a wheel locked solid. Nice post!

Nice one Ttaylor0024, That's reassuring to hear i.e. (perhaps not surprisingly & as You'd hope) that's exactly what I'm findng works best here, crabbing down, (i have flown in real life, but only have 2.5hrs of basic intro stuff :( ) what you say is exactly what others here have recommended, as well. Ground effect is I believe simulated in DCS but there's not a clear threshold you pass through (which I guess is realistic) so it's timing, technique and awareness I guess? Keeping the tailwheel up is a very good point - I've not tried to deliberately delay the tail wheel touching down. When it does in DCS P51 you seem to be (probably quite accurately(?) be in a limbo of full rudder control versis 6 degrees max fixed tailwheel control, and so things can get a bit out of control at this point again (for me) for a short while during roll out. (Perhaps I should have the wheel unlocked until I decide to put the tail on the deck finally? anyone?) Only when the plane fully settles can I relax and begin to believe that lndgs a in the bag. Thanks for your thoughts V

Best wishes RAAF Sniper Dude - get well soon.

Cheers Smokin Hole... I've spent about 10ish hours recently doing circuits at 11m/s and I can confirm it's bloody hard... but not impossible (at this speed anyway). I crash regularly unless I'm anything other than 'on it'. I find T/O's are a touch easier than lndg but both require absolute concentration. I get by with acceptable landings & takeoffs most of the time, considering the conditions. I frequently need to use the brakes to stay straight with landings. I can ace it only VERY occasionally, but it can be done more or less straight down the middle only very occasionally. BUT the margin for error is tiny! - It does feel like more rudder authority should be available. I agree. On T/O if you don't keep complete control of the nose then your off and upside down in no time. Landings - yep the bounce is extremely vigorous - you need to really grease it to stay straight and on the deck, again the margin is tiny here - realistic? I don't know? I reply because these two points you mention are exactly the killers for me when I'm not fully 'on it'. It can be done, but your right these two effects seem too uncontrollable. I can't see the point of practising beyond 11m/s.

Test Test

As always thanks everyone. Will keep practising and try to get a bit more consistent. big ta.

Yeah there are goods things about practising only with the AI i.e. it's consistently good therefore you push yourself and have to be efficient, but many bad things as well i.e. always similar range of defensive moves and not too many surprises - I must get my behind onto the MP servers and gain some wider experience. Will see you there at some point Dude. Cheers

Thanks Echo, I'm definitely on the right track, and it's reassuring to hear others use a similar method, but I'm still not very consistent when its strongish, and I don't know where to draw the line with wind strength itself. Have been practising them for a wee while but am lacking some of the finer points. The transition from T/O roll to flight is often quite wild, with some fairly 'positive' moves needed to get stable, and my initial climb heading is very variable with each T/O (when I don't prang that is):). Have been watching some of the 'flying wild Alaska' series, apparently it can a bit breezy in Alaska? They often seem to T/O with the ailerons very positively into wind, even for the T/O roll. I've just started trying this and I think it's helped a bit with the transition to flight bit? Likewise they seem to do this on the lndg roll as well. Is this good or bad practise in a taildragger? They also emphasise touching down the upwind wheel first which makes sense but I haven't heard that before from anywhere. Is that just nose gear aircraft? Does anyone Know what the max recommended cross wind numbers are? i.e. when you'd go find a better aligned strip. Doesn't seem much point in even attempting to practise unrealistic xwind circuits. I can't find any numbers anywhere in the manual. Also the turbulance settings - does this relate to gust variation? i.e. winds @ 8mps, turb @ 2.5mps = effective wind 8mps gusting (plus or minus) 2.5mps? Finally; ED any chance of a wind sock in the future? Even the Turbine jocks (especially the helos) would find it useful I'm sure. Thanks

Anyone know the details of proper procedure for moderate to strong cross wind landing? I've read the manual... a bit of extra speed, a bit of roll into wind, roll level & neutralise the crab for touchdown. I haven't seen anything on cross wind speed limitations, I don't understand why you would use 'approximately half flaps'. And should I be trying to touch down with the upwind gear first? I.e a tiny bit of roll into wind prior to. I can muscle it half the time with a strong cross wind but it's not exactly safe and reliable! I can TO fairly reliably now but any thoughts here on proper procedure would be of interest.

Hi Echo, Edit - sorry should have quoted - this is reply to post #10 from Echo. Yeah I get what you're saying there, and it sounds like a good plan, putting yourself under his nose when the EA has to execute a high G turn - that'll work - it sounds difficult to replicate, and I'd be concerned about giving the EA an unchallenged shot if it's not perfectly executed - but it's dynamite on paper and sounds like you have a lot of success with it - nice going. With the AI I've found that if I don't meet him HO then I'm immediately at a disadvantage in the subsequent turning fight and have to battle to rebalance things, (if I can at all) but maybe that's me - I agree HO's are bad for your health, if you aren't either careful and / or lucky, (both types:) I find (with AI) in the first pass, so long as I roll or otherwise make my flight path variable / very difficult to predict, the AI only has a guns solution about a quarter of the time, if that, and only extremely rarely does it / he get a hit on me (or even close to be honest). But you're right it's always possible for it to go very bad with a HO. I'm gonna try the 'faint, shoot, jink' thing that Tharos suggested. I don't exactly follow all the moves required to execute what you're doing, I think you said you haven't aced it again yet, when you do I'd be interested to understand it better. looked at the vid, nice kill mate - we need more vids like this - when I aint flyin I wanna watch others flyin :)

Hi Echo, My only experience is with AI which maybe be no good straight off the bat - but aren't the two goals are mutually incompatible in reality - Engaging and yet trying to be un-engagaeble? I dunno mate you sound more experienced than me. But you're in the manoeuvre guns cone if you commit aren't you? For what it's worth - The best success I've had with avoiding AI fire is manoeuvring in all three planes at once, such as barrel rolling, etc.... Just a thought. Good hunting!

Hi Bill, I'm unaware of any official bombing guide apart from the tutorial. But I did work some numbers out for myself which gave repeatable results - though its a shallow dive attack which I think is not the recommended tactic. For what it's worth and if I remember correctly it was - 3000ft AGL at cruise power, ID TGT then line up, ensure you keep ball centred, accelerate and hold close to 350IAS keeping TGT glued to the top of your spinner, pickle on 1000AGL and immediately climb and turn. Difficulty is you need to know TGT height above sea level - OK for training... I think a much steeper angle is best but I haven't tried this, and I'm sure others have more thought out / real world tactics than me.

I was forgetting about the fusing element, but in the back of my mind I was thinking that something like this was more likely to be a problem with skip bombing in DCS World - not much call for such an improvised tactic in modern tactical / strategic bombing - so why simulate it! It really would be amazing if this could be incorporated at some point as it's an authentic tactic used for maritime targets, accurate, and very challenging and in a comabt simulator - heaps of fun. :) Thanks Sobek

Yes of course! Pish! That's a big shame! I dare say that will be looked at at some point by ED (?), but would understand if it wasn't a priority. Thanks Smokey, OB1.

Hi PDM, I'd forgotten about skip bombing!! I used to have heaps of fun executing this tactic... I hope it does work in DCS World... I've not thought to try it before now. Will give it a go when I have a minute (probably the weekend), I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks Spetz, I've not seen this image before, looks real good tho. Either way somethings' coming I'm sure. A separate flyable axis module would really get things buzzing around here:) But an unflyable would be fine by me for now. We'll see I guess...

Not my first takeoff but by far my best/worst TO prang! Strong crosswind TO gone very bad. Anybody read 'goodbye Mickey Mouse by Len Deighton? This kind of reminds me of it?

Wow!! Like just awesome! Can you tell more Spetz? I can't wait!!

My understanding is that IF there is an adversary for the pony, then it will be an unflyable AI only adversary. I mean I hope I'm wrong but that's all I've dared to hope for so far. My fav would be a 190 of some description but we'll see.

Full blown WWii sim!! That would just blow everything else away! I won't hold my breath, but here's another +1 hoping!

RE Yo-Yo's vid... Nice! I haven't played with this yet but that's a nice demo. I Like the parabolic dive (?) / low/no G start, and then demonstrating how you need some G to extend, and a further couple of manoeuvres to lock. I read an account of a contemporary 51 pilot with a gear emergency and how he was helped by another more experienced 51 pilot by radio. It took the emergency pilot about 20 minutes of increasingly aggressive side slips to get both locked. I'll have to try this. Cheers

The AI does do some funky stuff... like nosing over at a stall for example. If your below and out of E when he does this then it looks like he's just maintaining height and cruising away. But if your up with him and manage to follow (full L rudder if i remeber...) you can see he's roughly got the same problems you've got. And I've seen him tumble from vertical defensive many a time - but he / it (whatever) does make a very quick job of recovery. My impression is its just a computer making the decision on each move not a human - so the best decision is made every time??

All I'm gonna say is I know the feeling - seriously I was convinced there was something fubar with the AI. but then with perseverance sometimes it will fall into place and you'll be glued to him, and taking pieces out of him. Boring I know but keep practising. And then some more. Don't give in! I know you'll know this already but there are so many variables.

if memory serves me correctly in the simHQ interview with Wags there was the same Q. The answer was something along the lines of - we'll have to wait and see - like i said if memory serves... As wolf says that seems to be a good indication that 'something's in the works...' It's gotta be either a mid to late 109 or a 190 I guess. That would be sooooooo cool!