BeachAV8R

Posted a combo text/video AAR of BFT-01 on SimHQ (trying to decide which format to use..lol..) LINK! BeachAV8R

I agree with SUBS - I do find good value in the missions. And I agree with degoe that just very specific briefings would be helpful (for instance, the info about the landing zone would be very helpful, a visual reference point). They have to be almost painfully detailed since there is no student/instructor interaction that you would normally have (ie - the student asking questions and the instructor clarifying)..so you have to perhaps go a bit overboard with the directions. Enjoying them and looking forward to flying BFT03 in a bit.. BeachAV8R

Alrighty... Got past BFT02 by landing straight-in.. Got dinged for not landing in the proper touchdown zone apparently though.

Curious - BFT02 (EFATO) I get through all of the air maneuvers just fine, but when I shut down my engine and fly back to the field I get a Q- mission failed I think for not landing in the proper place. I was under the impression I should fly the pattern and land in the same direction I took off. Or am I supposed to make a straight-in approach from over the ocean to the other direction? It seems like you should be able to do it either way so long as the approach and landing are safe.. Enjoying these missions..but they can be a little frustrating until you learn the individual missions. ie: The first time I ran BFT02, I waited and waited on the ramp because I thought that I was going to end up following the A-10C to my right to the runway. So I missed my takeoff time. Upon landing after my Q- fail I was told to taxi to the ramp which I did, but I received no more instructions after that. I would assume you are supposed to taxi to the same position you started from. The instructions need to be very specific if they are supposed to trigger events. I performed the shutdown figuring that might be what the trigger was waiting for but it never came. So once I'm advised of the beyond Q- parameters does that effectively end the mission? Regards... BeachAV8R

Article posted: HERE! Nice job.. BeachAV8R

Teaser... :thumbup: BeachAV8R

Please do work on a BS2 (English) version of this campaign. I'm very interested to try it out..! Good luck! BeachAV8R

Send your wingmen after them as bait..that way they will be preoccupied with them and you *might* get a shot off at them. Was it THIS mission by chance? Tough one.. :D Good luck! BeachAV8R

Posted at SimHQ: HERE! Some images: BeachAV8R

Full AAR at SimHQ: HERE! Some images.. BeachAV8R

Anyone understanding Russian give me a synopsis of what this film is about? Some good real Ka-50 footage in there.. Thanks.. BeachAV8R

Posted at SimHQ HERE! Some images: :joystick: BeachAV8R

AAR #10 posted HERE! A few images:

AAR HERE! :book: BeachAV8R

Yes - the mission results (to me) can be ambiguous. I sometimes don't know if I'm met the minimum requirements until I go to advance to the next mission in the campaign. If it goes to the next one, I figure I must have done it..if not..I refly it. I also made the suggestion that missions continued from a track be able to count toward completion of a campaign mission (they don't right now as far as I can tell).

Gulp. I didn't.. Do you think that's the case?? I'll kick myself it it is.. :doh:

Posted over on SimHQ. Probably the coolest mission I've flown in BS2: Deployment Mission #8 - On the Other Side Fun stuff.. BeachAV8R

The Mi-8 makes it unharmed to Nalchik and I think I’ll still get credit for the mission success, but after he parks I get a “Mission Fail” notice. I guess I had to make it to the Nalchik as well. Bummer. Tough break for me. I’ll have to refly it and see if I can scrape my way through the MANPAD ambush. BeachAV8R

The canon fire riddles the enemy troops as the shells explode. The Mi-8 continues the extraction and I have no idea where my wingman has gone. The Mi-8 reports the pilot is aboard and he takes off down the valley. I order my wingman to rejoin and we race out of the valley at low level. As we exit the valley the Mi-8 reports we are clear and gives us the mission success! I relax a bit and take up formation alongside for the flight over to Nalchik. I’m bored and messing around with buttons in the cockpit (never a good idea) and suddenly realize I have a whole two more pods of rockets left!! After expending the first salvos I forgot I could switch to the other pylons (normally I would have Vikhrs there). Dumb! From out of nowhere my wingman yells “SAM launch” and a second later the missile impacts behind us. My flares must have decoyed it since neither of us has any damage. I check and verify the Mi-8 is still flying along. Why he doesn’t drop to low altitude is beyond my comprehension. We are sitting ducks here. In desperation I order my wingman to engage enemy air defenses, but he himself becomes engaged defensive as another missile flies up toward us from our flank. The second missile misses as well and for a minute I think we are going to survive this ambush. A third missile arcs up from the general vicinity of the other ones and this time my flares don’t get the job done. I take a hit and pray that it is only one engine. No such luck. I become a brick as both engines fail. I bottom my collective and maintain my forward airspeed as I set up for an auto-rotation. I glance out my left side and decide to head for the valley. I actually do a pretty good job of manage speed and keeping my rotor energy up as I approach the flare. As I raise my nose and start adding the stored energy via the collective to cushion my impact I get a bit of lateral drift however, and my great autorotation ends up with me tumbling over once. I’m surprised to find myself back upright and intact (more or less). I kill the engines and the electrical system. I go to order my wingman home and realize he can’t hear me without any radios. I fire up the APU and give him the RTB command. It sure would be nice if the Mi-8 that we were escorting could come down and pick me up. Ungrateful bastard!

Today’s mission is a rescue escort to pick up a downed Su-25 pilot in the Malka river valley. We will escort the rescue Mi-8 helicopter and suppress the enemy while the helo extracts the pilot. After the pickup we will proceed to Nalchik Airport. We pick up the Mi-8 as he flies over the top of FARP “TORBA”. I’m not very enthusiastic about this plan since we will be escorting the Mi-8 directly to the site. Were it me, I would have the Mi-8 orbit until we’ve had an opportunity to recon the area and eliminate any threats from standoff range. I use my Shkval and laser range-finder to maintain the pre-briefed half click spacing behind the Mi-8. For this mission we are carrying my most hated weapon – all rockets. I’m terrible with rockets. I set my salvo to medium so that I don’t have to press the trigger too many times to get a good spread of rockets. I do like the encouragement by the Mi-8 pilot to “spare no ammo” however! We top a ridgeline and descend into the Malka valley and fly toward the pick-up point. I set my countermeasures panel to dispense from both sides, anticipating a hornet’s nest. The Mi-8 drops down to the river below and he tells us to watch the treeline higher up on the slopes. As he approaches the pickup point near a house gunfire erupts from the hillside to our right. We can see tracer rounds bouncing off the ground near the pickup point. Enemy infantry are laying in wait along the treeline. I can’t see them, but I can see where the tracer fire is emanating from. I unload a couple salvos of rockets into the treeline hoping the gunfire doesn’t take out the Mi-8 and end the mission before it has even started. I start popping flare just in case and order my wingman to engage any targets he happens upon. As the Mi-8 enters a hover to pick up the pilot I race up the valley, pull up hard and execute a hard pedal turn to put my nose back on the treeline. I go to fire my rockets and can’t believe I used them all on the first run! Damn. I select the gun and use the fixed position to strafe the treeline as I roar back overhead.

Once again I order my wingman to stay put (someone has to call the rescue choppers afterall).. I peek up over the top of the mountain and this is a much better vantage point, although it does suffer from not really being able to see the target area through the HUD due to the extreme angle. The Shkval optics have no problem with the angle though and I can use that to scan the area. I have an axe to grind with this guy. I set my sights on the other AA unit. ”Mustaffa – do you hear something..??” With the commencement of the attack the smarter units in the area try to take off down the valley. Hitting the moving targets is only slightly more difficult although the dust they kick up makes it hard to figure out where to lock them. As I pluck away at the defenders the Mi-24 flight determines the coast is clear and they start running in for their rocket attacks. I’m a wee bit worried though because a few enemies capable of firing are still on the loose so I try to quicken the pace of my shots. I run out of Vikhrs and the only threat that concerns me is a fortified bunker that I haven’t yet killed. I hope the Hinds are able to steer clear of it. After a couple rocket runs, the Mi-24s have killed their objectives and a pall of smoke rises from the town. I get the “MISSION SUCCESS”, but I can still see undamaged targets in the town. Never one to leave well enough alone, I push my nose over and select my rockets to make a run on the soft vehicles. I am, without question, the worst performer with rockets. I think I get one kill out of 40 rockets. Sigh. So I switch to the big gun. I remain wary of the bunker but no return fire comes from the village. I blow up all the remaining support vehicles and try to take out the bunker but the cannon fire has no effect on it. (I need an A-10C overhead with a bunker buster!) With the village in ruins I recall my wingman and we head down the valley to FARP Torba. The scenery in BS2 is just fantastic. The new lighting, soft shadows, haze – all of it combine to really setup some picturesque views. Just doodling around I slew my Shkval onto the FARP as I approach it and see the Mi-24s have already arrived. I set up for my landing, being very careful. It is easy to get complacent in the last stage of the mission and get into a vortex ring state or run into something around the FARP. The mission is a success. Obviously the ejection wasn’t a good thing. One thing I didn’t realize is that when you replay a mission from the track and assume control, even if you complete the mission it doesn’t count as a campaign mission completion. Doh! So I’ll just have to go back and refly it without a mission report to progress along in the campaign. BeachAV8R

But my view is blocked by the limited line of sight through the notch in the terrain. So I evaluate the situation, consult my topo map, and figure I can slide left (north) a click or so and that should give me good LOS down the valley. I give my wingman the “HOLD POSITION” command hoping to keep him out of trouble. My new position gives an excellent view of the entire village and I’m stunned at how many vehicles are out in the open. This is going to be a turkey shoot!! I pick the highest threat targets first and set my Shkval on another fixed AA emplacement. Suddenly my wingman barks out “SAM Launch!!” Oh crap. In my stupidity I ignored the blue shading on the ABRIS indicated the probably SAM envelope around the town. My new position provides excellent visibility, but it also lies on a downward slope with no terrain to dodge behind. I hadn’t seen a SAM unit in my quick scan, but obviously I was wrong. I dump my collective, pop flares, and jam the right rudder hoping to accelerate down into the valley perpendicular to the threat. It is too late. With near zero momentum I’m rocked by the missile and I hear the Bitchin’ Betty screaming at me. I keep the collective bottomed and continue pushing forward as I assess the situation. OK – left engine fire. I can probably deal with that. I’ll just jettison my weapons, crawl out of the valley and sick my wingman on the remaining targets. No problemo! As I start to put my plan into action. “RIGHT ENGINE FIRE”. Oh shi*. One engine out = bad. Two engines out = well, twice as bad. With little on the table in terms of options I pull the EJECT handle..cursing my stupidity.. The blades blow off, the roof explodes and I’m out… My wingman looks on with pity as he looks at his dumbass commander make one swing in the chute before hitting the ground (alive!). Damn! A MANPAD got me. I should know better. Stand-off range is your friend. So – I reload the track and let it play up until my poor decision. This time I take over with a better plan. I reposition to the other side of the huge Mount Maliy Bermamit (which is actually shown on the briefing map – perhaps a hint!!) which gives me stand-off range AND it allows me the possibility of dumping my collective and dropping back behind cover in the event of a SAM launch.

Today our mission is to proceed out of FARP Skala to the Narzan Valley to act in support of a pair of Mi-24s that will destroy a rebel weapons and ammunition cache. Our specific task is to clear the area of surface to air threats to allow the Mi-24s unrestricted access to the valley. After the support mission in the Narzan Valley we will proceed down the valley to land at FARP Torba. Departing FARP Skala the sunlight streaming through the Black Shark’s cockpit windows give it a toothy grin – ready to hunt! My wingman forms up and we take up the scenic flight to our operations area. This is a high mountain area and the towering Mount Elbrus is visible to our south. We are flying eastbound into the rising sun unfortunately, although the views are spectacular with Diveplane’s sun flare mod: HERE! It makes you actually want to squint! Crossing Waypoint 2 we continue toward our INGRESS point. Damn that sun!! Who planned this route??! I guess (?) I could have edited the waypoints in the Mission Planner prior to starting the mission. Meanwhile the pair of Mi-24s orbits further down the valley awaiting the sanitization of the enemy air defenses. I reach the INGRESS waypoint and set up a hover. The point gives a good view of the west side of the town, but due to terrain limitations I can’t see around the corner into the whole town. I turn on my AUTO TURN to target and can see several armored units and a fixed AA emplacement. I fire up my Vikhrs and get to work. If I were this guy I’d probably not stay in that seat. Through external views (yes – cheat, I know), I see that a whole gaggle of support vehicles is parked in the town.

Great NVG mod! :thumbup:

I set the PVI to take me to the last waypoint before heading back to the FARP. I land back at the FARP once again thrilled with the intensity and brilliance of the mission. Great stuff! In the debrief I note that during my missile attack on the house I killed an SA-18 Igla enemy trooper apparently. Lucky for me. BeachAV8R