Bearfoot

Personally, I think you totally misread Aerogator's post, and that got all your feathers kerfuffled. I think he was just correcting an inaccuracy regarding the age of the company, and then went on the flesh out some of their achievements in their long history. Which I, and I suspect, the rest of the community appreciates. No defense, no justification. So, nothing to get all flustered and worked up about. Just ignore it (and, frankly, the whole thread as well, since you are not all interested in the sticks/products let alone contributing positively to this thread), and you will find your life much improved ;)

According the flight manual, after enabling the circuit breakers and master arm (pg 343), I need to press PUS Fire Control Power Switch for 1-2 seconds to fire rockets. However, I can fire rockets even if I skip this step. Similarly, I can fire the guns without turning the Main Weapons Power on. Basically, all I need is to enable the circuits and flip the master arm switch on the overhead on, and I can fire the weapons. So are the roof panel switches just busy work? Or am I missing something?

So, why does the GUV-1 have two calibers of weapons, of which only one can be fired at a time? I guess I understand a light and heavy caliber if only one or both can be fired simultaneously --- you use the lighter caliber for aiming and then when rounds are hitting the target, you throw in the heavy caliber (as long as the trajectories are similar). But not only can you not fire them simultaneously, but it the pilot has to flip a switch on the overhead console to change calibers and that has got to disrupt the run so much that switching in the same pass let alone the same target must be challenging. So, two questions: (1) What as the "problem" that the mixed calibers fixed? What made someone say, "you know, what we need here are two smaller guns beside this one large one, and they don't even need to be fired at the same time". (2) How do you use these? Use up all the larger caliber ammo and then switch to the smaller one?

This is poor taste to slander another company like this. The VKB thread is highly active with both VKB NA (rrhode) and VKB Rus (AeroGator) regularly and quickly responding to questions and comments, and, furthermore email turn-around time for me with VKB has been < 24 hrs, with all queries answered, spare parts dispatched, etc. etc. promptly. The products themselves have arrived as finely-polished "functional works of art" that you would expect from boutique shops such as these, with everything to the best standards of craftsmanship I've seen (I compare it to a Swiss watch, as opposed to the farm machines of the TMHW), working flawlessly out-of-the-box. High-quality artisan sim hardware are niche-within-niche products. There is no reason to poop in one side of the cereal bowl because you like the other side --- at the end of the day, we may not be eating the same cereal, but we are all sharing the same milk. Sorry for taking this thread OT. Feel free to ignore or delete as appropriate.

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks!

Just beneath the side cockpit panels, between the pitot tubes and the mirror mounts, there are what appear to be large plates: It does not appear in many real-world Mi-8's, it seems: But it is there in others: While the latest variants have something that looks like it might be the same thing functionally, but with perhaps a different geometry and placement: What is it? What is it's purpose? Armor of some kind?

LOTS of helo footage, with interviews of pilots (Mi-8 as well as -24) etc. https://www.amazon.com/Afghan-Soviet-Experience-Journeyman/dp/B004H7TS82

Thanks for clearing this up! It was really bugging my OCD buttons!

On the Huey, the main rotors turn counterclockwise (to the left), and the anti-torque rotor is on the left side of the tail boom, with its thrust toward the right to counter-act the torque. This is the same orientation as the following diagram: On the DCS Mi-8, however, the main rotors turn clockwise (to the right). So I would expect the anti-torque rotor to be on the other side of the tail boom. But I see that it is not --- it is on the same side as the Huey. So I looked up images of the MI-8, and see that while many have the anti-torque rotor on the left, http://www.russianhelicopters.aero/en/helicopters/military/mi-817/photo.html many others have it on the right http://www.aircharterservice.com/aircraft-guide/cargo/milhelicopters-cis/milmi-8 What gives? Is the tail rotor placement arbitrary? Is there a design/engineering principle? Is the direction of the main rotors the same in all these cases (i.e., to the right/clockwise, opposite of Huey)? At the same time, I found images of the Huey with the tail rotor on the other side as well

Ah, such is the way of the world. From follow-ups I've read, it seems that the Russian suppliers are now refusing to sell spare parts to support the existing Afghan complement which means things are going to probably start falling apart before sufficient Black Hawks come online. Most articles I've read are highly critical of this transition to Black Hawks, saying that, apart from being better suited for the tasking, the Hips are also better suited for Afghan usage/maintenance/service, being simpler. Is this just a matter of training, though? I.e., with enough training and support and spar parts is maintaining a Black Hawk fleet that much more challenging than the Hip? Also, is it a broad consensus that the move to Black Hawks is not only purely political, but also Just a Bad Idea, or are there other opinions/voices who think it is actually a good thing?

Just learned that this family of helicopter is in US service. Does anyone have any information/links to details/history of this (public/non-classified only, of course!)? Where are they being used and by whom and in what capacity? And, most of all .... why?? What do they do that cannot be done by the UH-60's, CH-47's, CH-53's etc.? [uPDATE] Found these articles: http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/14502/as-first-uh-60s-arrive-us-plan-to-dump-afghan-mi-17s-is-still-problematic https://www.stripes.com/news/critics-say-scrapping-mi-17-fleet-could-undermine-afghan-air-force-1.460228#.WeWdMxNSyV4 Which state that: (a) the US acquisition and operation of Mi-17's was aimed at training and provisioning Afghan forces; and (b) this is all going to be terminated in favor of UH-60's. Does that about cover it?

I concur. Pretty sure that: (a) it's a CPU bottleneck; due to (b) the large amount of the AI units I've spent a long time fiddling with every setting, running on an overclocked 1080TI OC and have had up to 32GB RAM. These missions remain an FPS killer like no other I've tried. There's just a lot happening everywhere and in the background, and while this is absolutely great for immersion, this is what tanks the FPS. I do not see a solution other than releasing a "lite" version stripped off all the non-essential non-mission "pure theatre/drama" stuff to allow this campaign to be playable. Or wait and hope that the next gen CPU's are both affordable and have enough muscle to do the job.

Thanks. Does the book have any first-hand accounts of Afghanistan operations? Is there anything cited in the bibliography about same?

Thanks! This is really nice and useful and interesting! I was looking for something more along the lines of one of the Osprey books with, e.g., personal or first-hand accounts of operations. Maybe even an entire biography like Chickenhawk or Blades of Thunder. But this manual is still very welcome!

Selling my excellent condition Track IR 5 + Track Clip Pro Combo here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/152746220983 Asking USD 100 + shipping, continental US only. Thanks!

Item has sold.

Ah yes, I think you mean this: I've watched it, and it is pretty good, though I would not argue with anyone who would call it as much as sales video as a documentary! There is good information there, but it is really heavy on the spin which sometimes comes off over the top. Either way, though, worth atching, especially, the second video, with lots of footage of operations in the sandbox. Thanks for pointing it out!

Folks, I could not find a thread dedicated to literature and media about this wonderful bird. Is there one I missed? If not, maybe this will serve. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be much in English, and nothing at all in the way of operational/combat/"in the seat" type stories ... :( Here is a list that I have: Mil Mi-8 and Mi-17 Rotary Wing Workhorse and War Horse - Red Star Vol. 14 Have not read this myself. Anyone can comment/review? Mi-17 (Mi-8 MTV-1) -- Krzysztof Barcz Mariusz Kalinowski Looks like mostly a collection of photographs for a modeler. Anyone have anything else to contribute?

I've only used it with the extension, and with the 20 cm extension there is zero issue with sticktion. I cannot speak for its use without extension. As far as broken buttons -- as I noted, it is in perfect working condition. Selling because I have bought and currently use the VKB Gunfighter. The WH has been sitting boxed up ever since.

Selling my excellent condition THRUSMASTER WARTHOG FLIGHT STICK, bundled together with a Sahaj 20 cm “ACE MAKER” BLACK EXTENSION (+$100 value!!). As a bonus, it includes a dust shield (http://www.dualsticks.com/dustshields/) that has been on since day one, so the internals have always been protected from grit and dirt. Everything is not only in perfect working order, but free of dings and scratches etc. Includes original box and documentation. Total value, new is $370.00 ($270 for the stick and $100 for the extension), not including shipping. Asking (only!): USD 220.00 + shipping. Will only sell to continental US locations, due to weight. NOTE: this package is large and heavy! Shipping will be expensive to your location, maybe up to $45.00, depending where you are. You can calculate this yourself or send me your zip/city and I will give you the USPS or UPS estimate, whichever is cheaper. I am located at 20874. Weight is close to 14 lbs. Outer box will be 16" x 12" x 12". Payment is by PayPal. Contact me via PM on these forums I have not sold anything on these forums before, but you can look up my ebay history under the name "algonquinmoose". PM me on these forums for any questions. (NOTE: selling flight stick and extension ONLY. There is no throttle). Images:

+1! So frustrating to not be able to see what got you right now!

Nice insight and perspectives! But when due time comes, the question will be ... will those drones carry guns or missiles? Or lasers?

This is true. And this is why only ED probably has anything close to the true numbers (not just sales, but presumably the "phone home" that DCS does on launch will give them an idea of active players, and, of course, the MP server logins will also give them an idea of MP vs SP usage). And this why when ED tells us that the number of SP players is much, much, much, much, much, much larger than the number of MP players, we have good reason to believe that they probably know what they are talking about. However, we might be able to take forum membership/activity as a rough proxy of all active players? This is probably a major underestimate, given that the number of active players who are not active forum participants probably far outnumber the number of active forum participants who are not active players. But this will give a reasonable idea of at least the lower bound of the total community size, maybe? And this number is in the 50-60K range, IIRC?

I, too, have been curious as to the actual MP community size. I think the best way to get at this is tedious, but, while not perfect, will at least get us within the ball park: someone has to logon on the hour, every a hour, for a week, in stable, beta, and alpha, and note the identities of people online. This will obviously miss some folks who play less than an hour and slip between the gaps, or folks who play less than once a week. And it will double count folks who play under different usernames. But, as I said, it will get us in the ballpark. Now, how do we get a measure of the SP community? Easy: everyone else! How do we know how many "everyone else" are? Ah, that, is tricky. I think ED has a handle on this --- sales, update download connections, etc. And pretty sure ED will not share! Perhaps, though, we can take forum size as a rough indicator? IIRC, it was in the ~50-60K range?

Fixed that for ya! While the same can be said of any survey, usually there are procedures/mechanisms to account for the non-representativeness of the survey respondents, or the survey respondents themselves are carefully chose to be representative of the community. Reason that I think this survey's numbers do not line up or are representative of the community? Because we know there are, what, several thousand? several tens of thousands? several hundreds of thousands? copies of DCS out there in the wild, yet on any given day/night there are typically what, fewer than a few dozen people online? Sure, sure, we can say that not everyone plays 24/7, so a random snapshot of the server players at any number of time would be a serious underestimate. But even if you take a snapshot at its peak and, say, multiply by 24 * 7, you get something in the few thousand range, and THAT is not only probably a serious overestimate, it nowhere accounts for the tens/hundreds/? of thousands of known DCS players.