capttrob

If you guys are having fun with that photo, here is another one to ponder.... real or photoshop?

Wow, this thread grew fast.... To clear a few things up....An airplane can land at any speed. I've done it many times from RC to 152's to King Air's to jets. Its called "Flying it onto the ground". It can also crash at any speed, any attitude. Ground effect is a cushioning effect caused by (to keep it simple) wing tip vortices. There is alot more to it such as a swirling motion along the wing itself that spreads and trails the tips (vortex) and comes together aft of the airframe forming a kind of "box" if you will. Its been a while since my college aerodynamics courses, but these are the basics. Wing Tip vortex is only present during the creation of lift. Since Induced drag is a by-product of lift, induced drag does have alot to do with it as well. But, to keep it simple, Ground effect can be penetrated at any airspeed. As far as RA, i dont know about the MiG, but the RA we had in the 328 was pretty damn accurate. It would show 5 feet during taxi, and if we hit a bump and the airplane "bobbled" up and down, it would move. Most airspeed indicators are set at 25-40 depending on aircraft. They vary... could be more, could be less. Although, we used our FMS groundspeed as a sort of "speedometer" during taxi. That was accurate to zero knots. I also use the same in LOFC (ground speed indicator) on taxi... As for the photo, sure its possible. I just tend to lean towards the side of photoshop. But as someone else said, i wouldnt bet money on it... ;) This same debate is going on at several pilot websites all over the net right now.... I figured you guys would get a kick out of it, so i brought it over here.... edit: As for the the forums at airliners.net.... do some searches on some real pilot websites to see how pilots feel about that community...lol... the site itself is awesome... but the forums are a bit different from what i understand... :)

I tend to think its photoshop. Unless they have a feature like us Lock-On owners and are able to turn Heat blur off.... ;) edit: Im almost thinking the whole airplane is a graphic. If you look closely, it appears they need to turn up their AA a few notches more...

http://photos.airliners.net/photos/photos/5/0/6/1025605.jpg

I tried it when i first starting flying the 15. But many pilots online have tons of experience with LOMAC and know how to beam very well. I used to come in high... very high... for the range (it only makes sense to a noob to get more range), but being that more range with the current effectiveness of the AMRAAM is pointless, it made more sense to me to rope them in closer using my stick and rudder skills getting them in the NEZ. Now that i have more knowledge of the LOFC F-15 and more knowledge of the opposition weapons systems, i should probably be trying some more high alt ops and see how it works out....

in reply to shamandgg I agree, getting some SEAD's in there is very effective. We did that the other day with Scorpion. Was fun to watch the turnover rate on the other side after their SAM's were gone. Many pilots left...lol As far as the squad thing... im in the 54th which is mainly an IL2 squad. But many of them are getting up to speed now on LOFC. Great bunch of guys and we always have a blast flying together, so im remaining loyal to the 54th rather than seeking out a different number to put in front of my flying tag.. As more of them come up to speed hopefully we'll be able to put something together while adding to the LOFC community. But in the meantime, you guys will have more targets to shoot at.. ;)

Nothing wrong with that. If everyone hugged their SAM batteries and never went out for the hunt, i gather this game would get pretty boring online pretty fast. The day i flew with you guys was alot of fun because it was structured teamwork. But it was the first time i had to RTB without an engagement because our opponent never left the comfort of his SAM batteries. I realize why he did it because it was 3 of us and one of him (and i found out first hand what it was like when i went hunting for him and got wacked by a SAM). But i bought a combat game.. i wanna see some combat... even if its me getting batted...;) It would be really cool to have flyable bomber with escorts in online missions (heavy bomber stuff with nukes... not SEAD escort). Dont know if that is possible now... but i think it would be alot of fun. edit: I also gather the tactics i am developing while learning this game and its bugs to improve my kill ratio are probably quite different than real world F-15 tactics. In other words, im much more effective (almost 3-5 times more effective) if i come in from the weeds, whereas i understand the real F-15 is a high altitude all weather interceptor.

Ahhh.. Call of Duty. The King of "Noob Weapon Whiners". I play CoD2 on the 360. It freakin rocks. Especially since they came out with the new patch. Most people whine about camping snipers and shotgun toting noobs. The best is sneaking up on a sniper and wacking him in the back of the head with a BAR....lol. Nothing wrong running in with guns blazing, as long as your aim is good. But yeah, i see your point. Leaderboards do tend to lead to more cautious play and sometimes cheating. For me, i like gaming as part of various other things i do to relax and have fun, its a hobby. Not something to create stress... ;)

I dont know about my opponent, but i bought the game for entertainment, not competition. If this were my job and i was paid by my kill-death ratio (or if it were real life), sure, i'd run to my SAM batteries too, along with a few other techniques. I dont feel it has anything to do with intelligence. But, to each their own... i dont judge.. ;)

Actually, from what i have seen so far, many of them run to their SAM batteries. I noticed quite a few pilots like to orbit their SAM concentrations, come out to the edge, launch a few missles, then turn tail back to the cuddle with their SAM's. If i fire at someone, i wanna see the fireworks! Not cuddle with my SAM's.... i'd also like to see the fireworks if i get splashed insread of an abrupt switch to theater view...but thats just me.. ;)

I dont know if these two do it, but i have noticed alot of pilots turn tail in this game. They fire off 2-4 missles. Make a 180 and go supersonic. What is the fun in that? IRL, sure you want to save your hide, but in a game? Getting down to the nitty-gritty knife fight after evading a few sticks inbound, should be what online dogfighting is all about. If you lose, get another airplane....like i do....lol

Thanks shamandog. I usually use a few different techniques when closing head to head. Especially against an opponent that may be carrying ET's. I'll need to fine tune it a bit more. When i first started flying this game, ET's were taking me out left and right. But im getting better at evading them. Was hoping there was more to it regarding warnings. Thanks again....

Good advice GG. Usually im pretty good with getting some flares out there, but since i was winning the turn battle, i figured i was well out of his seeker ranges and all i was concentrating on was to get a target solution which was immenant. Basically i let my guard down since i felt i had him on his back. Dont think i'll let that happen again.. ;)

Thanks Pilotasso. Its quite possible he could have kicked the rudder a bit to have me closer to his 2 or 3 oclock during launch, since i was rolling into his 4 or 5. but that ET certainly made quite a turn (and climb since i was a few hundred feet above him at that point). We were so close i didnt have time to react, not to mention i was laughing when i saw him fire from that aspect angle, which turned to shock pretty quick... ;)

I was in a knife fight with a -29S in a vally somewhere near Bullseye on 169th. We both made a few laps to gain advantage on each other's 6 oclock. I was winning the turn battle and eventually got to about his 4-5 oclock position ready to fire my Aim9 once i got tone. Just then i saw a smoke trail come off his wing, make almost a 180 degree turn and blew me to pieces. It was an ET. I thought it was one hellava shot and congratulated the guy for his success. But after reading this thread, can the real ET do this? Attack someone turning into your 6 oclock?

Interesting thread... Im still a bit unclear how to acquire an ET. Can you elaborate a bit further? Usually i have zero warning of an ET launch. Although i have developed some techniques for evasion. How do you know when one is launched or tracking you?

Understood.... Thanks Brit!

After thinking about this a bit, i dont see how it can be "debatable". Its mislabelled, plain and simple. If your wife (or significant other... to be "pc"), asked you to go pick up a Filet Mignon at the grocery store, yet you never seen a Filet Mignon. So you find a nice piece of meat labelled Filet Mignon for about 12 bucks. You dont know the difference or pricing, so you buy it. I mean your wife wants Filet, it says Filet.. you're a hero.. right? Once you get home, your wife hits you over the head with it and says to you, "What are you stupid or something? I asked for a Filet, this is a London Broil!!" Moral of the story. The majority of people buying this game will think that plane is a MiG-29A... period.

Thanks for the clarification on the MiG brit.. :) As for me being convinced of the 29S being "too easy"? I havent a clue what they are like to fly. I never flown the bird (edit: well thats not entirely true, i think i flown it once or twice for a total of about 7 mins). Im just passing along what others have told me who have more experience with this game than me. I wont name names, but i suppose it will be easy to figure out who feels that way if you see what they fly online presently.... As far as im concered, the Eagle is ten times easier to fly... for me.... mainly because i have no time in the -29S. I tried flying some of the Russian birds, but im not willing to put the effort into mastering them just yet aside from learning their strengths and weaknesses for now.... :cheers:

I'll start flying the campaigns when i get bored with flying online. I havent been around LOFC long, but from what the more experienced squad members are telling me, it seems the MiG-29S is for the noobs or those pilots wanting the easy kill without a challenge. I have no time in the -29S, but i have shot quite a few of them down with the Eagle (as well as being shot down many times by them ;) ). Im just passiing along what i have heard from several top players that have switched to other airframes because the -29S is "too easy". Perhaps those that said it, will chime in here if they read this thread.... :cheers:

Gimmie a break guys, i've had the game for about 2 weeks. I dont know about your game Maverick, but if you take a close look at the screenshot of my "quickstart" menu, that letter next to the MiG-29 looks awfully like an "A" to me. Now i've only been speaking and reading english for about 35 years... but im pretty sure i can distiguish between a "G" and an "A" by now. However, let me know if you see a "G". Im always appreciative for those that correct my knowledge of that alphabet. And to think all these years i thought that figure next to the Mig-29 was an "A"... ;). However, since i know very little about MiG's, and learning quite a bit about the developement of this game, i suppose it could be a typo....? And the MiG on the start screen is really a "G" but mislabelled? However, if it makes ya feel better, feel free to correct any spelling errors in my post. Im almost certain i misspelled "distinguish"... :) Here is the screenshot of my quickstart menu... (my apologies for the sarcastic post, it was just too hard to pass up ;) )

Congrats on the Inspector certificate! The 328 i used to fly had 5 DU's, 2 RMU's, 1 FMS and an FGC all controlled by 2 IAC's, 2 DAU's and 2 MADC's which made up the Primus 2000 brand (i guess). The Honeywell Primus 2000 is the same system that is in the 744 and 777 IIRC. As far as who made the DU's, i havent a clue. Probably Honeywell. Our MFD's were interchangable with the PFD's and EICAS. They were basically all the same monitor. If you got to airliners.net and do a search for a 328Jet cockpit, you'll see what im talking about (but i have a feeeling you already know ;) ) As for the VRB approach plate, its was the first thing i stumbled upon when i did a google image search so i could show an example. Purely reference only of course.. ;)

Not really sure about EGPWS, but im pretty sure that is what we had with the Honeywell Primus 2000 (IIRC you are an avionics tech IK?). So you probably know much more about it than i. What i do know is the GPWS warnings in the F-15 behave much like some aircraft i have flown, with the exception of "sink rate, sink rate" or "bank angle bank angle". But i guess in a fighter, that logic would be disabled. You're also right about the gyro stab having limits now that i think about it. Considering i rarely look at the RA and have DH set to my PFD altimeter (which is always in MSL), im rarely looking at the RA especially in steep banks. Another thing to point out IIRC, military approaches are shot to DH where civilian approaches are shot to DA. One is set to RA (altitude in perenthesis which i believe military uses for their approach) and the other is set in MSL (civilian). Here is a good example. Note the Straight in mins. I believe mil pilots use the number in perenthesis, which would be consistent with the HUD switch to RA. PS. If anyone wants to correct my spelling of "perenthesis", please do.. im too lazy to look it up...

Thanks for the heads up Ice.... If that is the case, why do so many people fly the MiG29S when the 29A is the only one i see for available aircraft on the start menu? I asked this question before and nobody answered. Also, the manual covers the N-001 and N-019 along with the in depth details of the strengths and weaknesses of the APG-63, but there is nothing to be found for the Topaz used in the MiG-29S..... Im sure im probably missing something, but i find it rather odd that the most popular airplane online is one that has the least available information and/or easy access as the others.. (no "FLY" button). Not really sure if you can fly it in missions or camp's as i havent really ventured into anything with LOFC but online play. With that said, i thought any mod can only be flown with a current FM available. In other words, placing an AI skin over an existing flyable aircraft. In which case, its not really a "mod", rather different textures on an F-15 "bubble" FM (or Su-27/33/29... etc). Are users able to tweak airfiles in order to fly AI aircraft online tweaking the air file to match the performance of the specific aircraft? I thought the server host could limit what types of flight models are allowed in the server, and if there was any tweaking going on, it would be rejected. Dont know myself, just throwing out questions that pop up in my fried noggin.... BTW, great fun earlier tonight even if we didnt get to engage. It was nice to fly with structured teamwork..... And dont forget, i meant what i said with respect to the server... :cheers:

Used to fly for Independence Air (in the ACA days) based LGA, BOS and CVG.. with HQ and a base at IAD and in ORD (we were the largest carrier out of Washington Dulles). Dornier 328Jet (Delta Connection side). FLYI went out of business Jan 6, 2006. So im on the job hunt. But on the bright side it gives me time to sling shot some 120's and 7's... ;) If you know anyone looking for a pilot with a strong resume, dont hesitate to PM me :) Im also highly considering a career as a consultant in the flight sim world. I'd actually prefer it over going back into "The industry". Im sure you understand.... Gotta love those straight pipes on the -200 though. I have a few friends at DL flying the 200. They absolutely love it. Although i havent seen them in a while so i dont even know if they are furloughed or what. Or even if DL still has the -200's.