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Weird, according to a dude from Natural Point I talked to a little while ago I was the only person to have this problem... Could it be that he... *gasp* lied to me? :D

I´m reading it right now (almost done actually) and have to say when it comes to the topic of Hueys in Vietnam I liked both "Snake Pilot" and especially "To The Limits" much better. "Rattler One-Seven" seems to lack a certain... well... "flow" to it. It´s more a collection of various stories which feel detached from each other even though they all happened during the author´s tour. Also, often various soldiers, pilots etc. are introduced at great length only to never be heard of again just one paragraph later. Last but not least I have noticed a number of grammar and spelling mistakes, something I consider unacceptable for a professional publishing company (then again, that might be the pedantic German in me speaking, so take it with a grain of salt). That being said, it´s still a good book and despite the above shortcomings I enjoyed reading it. A large part of the book is dedicated to Lam Son 719, and those parts are actually quite interesting (and seriously hair-raising, I might add). Just don´t expect even the tiniest bit of technical information in the book, because there is absolutely none.

So... yeah..... any word on "DCS Aurora" yet? :D

People who know don´t talk. People who talk don´t know.

Funnily enough, I live by that very same policy. Sure does make for a peaceful life, huh?

Wow, that was hilarious! I´m laughing so hard it hurts! :laugh:

Speaking from own experience: Nope.

I´ve read the book a couple weeks ago and can´t praise it enough. Easily among the five best books I have ever read in my entire life. The first book that actually made me cry (not because of that one moment, but because of... ah well, read it yourself ;)). Awesome, awesome, awesome book. If you have even just a slight interest in aerial combat, you cannot pass this book. Just check out the customer reviews over at Amazon. More than a thousand reviews, and the book scores a rock solid rating of five stars. Trust me, buy it! You will LOVE the book.

Sure, just open up the rearming window (press LALT + ') and knock yourself out. However, be advised that in the real world an A-10 either carries tanks or weapons, never both. Going into combat with external tanks is a big no-no for the A-10.

Well, up until just recently, the Luftwaffe did fly the UH-1D, so maybe we should just have both to choose from. The developers stated they overemphasized the vibrations on purpose since you lack the "seat of the pants" feel telling you about the ETL transition in the real Huey.

It´s the pilot, not the machine.

Oh come on, I really did think the intelligence level on these forums would prevent such a statement to be made... As for how an Airbus would have behaved, here´s some reading material: http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/tech_ops/read.main/335863/1/ In short: No aircraft is foolproof. If a pilot is incompetent enough or even wants to crash the airplane, the airplane will crash. No matter if it´s a Boeing, an Airbus, an Embraer, a Sukhoi, a Tupolev, a what-have-you.

Isn´t this the first hull loss of a 777 (with casualties, that is)? Guess the 777´s perfect safety record just got a little dent. :(

I made a practical joke here, but then sobek edited it. So yeah, this entire posting has become pointless now, please ignore it and move on. I promise I won´t be funny anymore in the future.

Try ground-stabilizing the Mav by pressing TMS down short (the Mav needs to be SOI). This will make it look at a certain point on the ground without moving. Now you can slew it around much easier. You also may wanna try to mess around with the slew speeds. Some guys like it faster, some like it slower. With a bit of practice and a proper HOTAS you can easily fire up to six Mavs in a single run. Not that six Mavs would be a realistic loadout, but it can be done nevertheless. There are a lot of ways of finding targets: Eyeballs, your TGP, JTAC, other flights, groundtroops begging for help... Situational awareness is the name of the game. When driving an A-10 you need to know the battlefield by heart. Once you have a general idea of where the enemy might lurk, use the magic that is the TGP and hunt them down. Try to search in a methodical pattern, don´t just go all over the place, looking here and there and then back here again. Moving convoys are easy to spot, they stick out like a sore thumb when travelling on roads, and when travelling offroad they usually create a lot of dust. Units in hiding are harder to make out, but just ask yourself "if I were a tank in this town, where would I hide?" and look that place up with your TGP. More often than not you´re actually lucky, and once you find one tank you know there are more around in close distance. If all else fails there´s of course always the option of "Recon by fire"... :D It takes quite a while to find targets when you are new at this, don´t let that discourage you. After some time it will just magically come together all of a sudden and you will ask yourself why you ever had problems with it. Practice, practice, practice! Sorry, can´t help you here since I use TrackIR Can´t speak for the X52pro in particular since I don´t own it, but a good HOTAS is very helpful when flying the A-10. Most guys seem to be pretty happy with their X52s. I hate to sound like a fanboy, but personally, I just love my TM Warthog HOTAS more than any other piece of hardware I own. Most amazing stick and throttle I ever had, but of course that kind of quality comes with a corresponding price tag. As for the TrackIR... you haven´t lived until you used it. Some time ago mine broke and I stopped simming altogether until the replacement arrived. I just couldn´t fly without it. No way. I sure as hell tried, but... meh. The TrackIR is one of those things you look at after you have gotten used to it, thinking "how in the world did I ever fly without it?"