Zorrin

Try searching the forums. I'm sure I saw a list of them somewhere, maybe in the resource section where ED were asking for community help on info. Can't remember exactly but that may help!

It's not a FFB stick so I can't say I have, and I don't like the way the Shark feels with trim. It just seems so unnatural to me, so I hardly use it. I guess with time I can condition myself with it, but I like having to keep the stick pressure on. Although I am in dire of getting some pedals. I miss the HOTAS already!

The Messiah doesn't come along too often. Be in awe of my presence :P And to be fair, I do purposely put the Kamov through serious abuse... Usually quick stops from 250km/h to land, which then invariable seem to end in Vortex Ring and another ruined Black Shark....... Oh well. Time to scratch up aiframe number 75!

Yes. Something I did caused a fire. No idea what though, other than something seriously wrong!

I don't have any. But if you're willing to pay you can buy them. You'd probably be best with a 1:500,000 scale chart as these are more than adequate for VFR ops. Although generally in the UK heli guys use the 1:250,000. But you'd end up with way more detail than you need. I had a quick look at Jeppesen but they don't seem to have any covering that region. You could try one of these (http://shop.pilotwarehouse.co.uk/product515000023catno123000023.html) but they're 1:1,000,000. Although I'm not sure as to really how much detail you'll get from that.

Well think of Vortex Ring is the helicopter equivalent of a Stall. Vortex ring can be induced when you are descending with a low airspeed and power. Basically the rotors go through their own downash and therefore lose lift. The only way out of it is to push the cyclic forward and build up speed... Of course if you're too low...

I had originally ordered a DVD version from qpig.ru but as an impulse bought the download version from 1C. And what a revelation DCS Black Shark really is. Initially the GUI is very slick and so easy to use I’m half expecting to come home and find my cat tapping away changing all the key commands for me! Thankfully the incoherent babbling Menu Music of Lock On is gone for good. Replaced with orchestral and soothing sounds that actually build tension rather well. Changing key commands isn’t such a great idea… Printing them out on the other hand is what you’ll need to do. There are only 9 pages of them… Right, that’s enough rambling about the GUI. On to the main course, and what a delight that ED have cooked up for you! I jumped straight into the Mission Editor to set myself up ready to roll on the runway in the post-summer dawn with a few wispy white clouds and a gentle 3m/s breeze blowing in off the coast. Hit fly, and at this point you are wondering what’s happening. It may take an eon to load but it is worth every second of anticipation. You are finally in your noble steed and hit unpause… The whirl of the blades and whine of the turbines and vibrations are making this sim come alive. You really feel a part of it. No other sim has ever made me feel like I am actually in the cockpit like Black Shark does. Just lifting the collective you can feel it getting light on its wheels, it already wants to weathercock into wind as your mind boggles at just how lightly you have to use the controls. It twitches just like a real helicopter does and as I lifted off I had flashbacks to sitting in Robinson’s R22. Pull too much collective in and you’ll soon find out the hard way as to what happens. The damage modelling is as good as the developer’s claim it to be. And oh boy can you abuse the Ka-50. Rather than follow a structured flight plan I ignored the Arbis. Set it to display NAV mode and went about my determined cataclysmic destruction of my Ka-50. First up lets try some high-speed on the deck turns. Oh boy does the Shark accelerate fast. In no time at all you can be approaching VNE and the nasty effects that going past it can bring on. Turn number one involved rotors hitting the ground and subsequently an impromptu need for a new machine. Second Ka-50 is ready to go… Lets try breaking it in another spectacular ball of fire and twisted metal. Pedal turn in the vertical just after lift off… Lifted off, nose forward keeping it low and letting the speed accelerate. Pull it into the vertical let the airspeed decay and feed in right pedal… Seems simply? Well on this occasion the airspeed dropped to much and before I knew it I was in reverse and seemingly on track to kill my virtual pilot… again. Welcomed by a bang and Naggging Nadia there’s what looks like a fuel leak.. Switch to external and the entire tail is missing… But it still flies! Off we totter to maintenance and beg for another. The systems truly present a humungous challenge. My first Cold and Dark start ended in an engine fire after 23 minutes of infuriating frustration. I have to say, I am totally hooked and I’ve not even got as far as loading a single Vikhr onto my whirlybird. It’s possible to just jump in and really enjoy the flight model and damage modelling. Seeing how hard you can push it before you end up having rotors touch and that inevitable drop from the sky. The Vortex Ring modelling is truly impressive. You get the Shark into it and it scares you rotten… It just drops as it truly should. Enough rambling… What do I like about it after just a few hours? I love the damage modelling and how you can almost feel what the Shark is doing. The head movement is brilliant and really immerses you. You really can almost feel it… At the moment I’m using my old MS Sidewinder 2 over my Cougar. Simply because I have no pedals and while in other sims you could get away using one of the rotaries for rudder, a set of pedals will be high on my Christmas wishlist. What is there I don’t like about it? So far nothing, other than one bug I have found… Seems the SU33 AIs like to land on Neutrashimys instead of the Kuz… Most bizarre. What’s the first thing you should do when you get your Black Shark on the runway ready to go? Abuse it. Push it hard and sit back and watch it crumble. Then go and read the manual and understand how it works!

That's probably because of inertia... And weathercocking. You are travelling in direction at x and have the inertia of your heli going that direction to. By tapping the pedals you are yawing and then inertia wants to keep you going in your original direction. So that's actually realistic modelling... Can't wait to start playing Trench Digger!

My order according to my account on qpig is complete. No e-mail or notification received. I expect its winging its way to me now from Moscow... Ordered last Thursday...

But also an awesome demonstrator! You could argue that its a prototype for the MiG-35? As that incorporates the thrust vectoring but with a major avionics overhaul... Meh Horses for Courses...

Actually printing in bulk from a printer can be very cost effective...

Well I have played Battlefield.... But probably not the same one. :D

With the release of DCS:Hind the inclusion of the Afghan theatre.

300 rubles = c.£7GBP

Well that's the beauty of a Credit Card. I have ordered from them and will be watching that card closely. The advantage of the credit card is that it is also the issuer's problem too! Last time I had a card cloned I made the call and everything was refunded straight away :) Now if you are using a debit card... Well then you are royally f**ked... And after all you are only entering into a contractual purchase agreement for the agreed amount. xx rubles as per the price stated on the website... yadda yadda yadda.

Probably just tech research for Gulfstream's supersonic business jet! Along with that Quiet Spike....

I haven't tried it but I've heard that you can use the isight camera very well with Freetrack. But then I've not got round to bootcamping my macs yet...

Who reads the manual/briefing/encyclopaedia/etc anyway? Point click, point click, repeat as necessary until the thing is vibrating so badly the earth rejects it!

Not with the dollar dropping so much :)

Seriously, why would the Russians want to bomb Hull? I mean that'd do us all a favour!

He means Internal/In-Game/ Voice Comms by IVC.

Actually they've tried it and done it. It's called the MPL - or Multicrew Pilot's License. Involves 100hrs[?] simulator time and thereafter type rating training straight onto a 737/A320 series aircraft before embarking on a career as a First Officer for good. Of course this license has already shown a shortfall what with the recent culling of services and various airlines going bust. The first lot of MPL pilots were made redunant a while back. Problem is their license is specifically tailored to an airline... yadda yadda. But point is they've already done it in an attempt to cure the shortage of qualified pilots in civvy street. I don't belive its a good thing but it's [commercial aviation at least] becoming more about the accountants than the guys, or girls, at the pointy end.

You'll be pleasantly surprised how much you learn in those harrowing ten/fifteen minutes! :D I'm sorry Draco, I have to disagree. Or at least, disagree with your example of Vortex Ring. What's one of the warning signs that you are entering vortex ring - given that you are descending fast, with power and at a low IAS. It shakes right? How can you convey that in the simulator? Maybe I'm just sceptical. But so much of learning to fly is initially all about how things feels. When you come in to put down on the pad, how do you know how much power you need to get her settled before you can let it down onto the skids? Varies with the conditions. And how often are you looking at the manifold pressure gauge in the 44 when you are putting it on the pad? It's feeling. You know how much power you need because you can feel what the helicopter is doing and what you are learning is how to react to these feelings. You moot at FSX developing bad habits. Well just because you are using DCS:R44 doesn't mean you won't be learning bad habits. No disrespect to the devs, but how do you know that what you are going to be doing in the sim is the exact equal of the real life variant? You don't unless you have that real option. And if you have that real option why are you doing something on a PC that you can do for real. I always found that the instructor screaming at me kinda made me not want to go to the wrong side of the envelope. A bit like Pavlovs dogs... Feel the buffett hear you instructors voice telling you off... Strayed OT but if you wanna discuss it some more PM me :)

Surely a longshot Draco. I can tell you one thing, don't think that because you can do something in a PC simulator you can do it in the real thing. I used to run a helicopter charter and training school (rotary & fixed)... Chappie strolls in one day and enquires about the cost of a PPL. Reckons he "knows enough to get one airborne and do a cirucit". "So how many hours do you have?" I ask. "Oh none, but I have played a lot of MS Flight Simulator. Now I know a lot of people knock it, but it's very realisitic. I know I could get in one of those little planes out there and fly a circuit safely..." (Those "little planes" were the Cessna 152. The proverbial spam can). "Okay, here are the keys. Off you trot.." Well he couldn't even figure out how to start the aircraft. Now I know that is a little out of context, but that actually happened. And it's dangerous to think that using a high fidelity recreation simulator can help. The only thing it can ever help you with is navigation principles. However, once you get your license, will you still be interested in the simulator version? I doubt it. As a license pilot of course I own a plethora of simulators. Which ones do I actually use often? Well only the ones that let me do things I cannot do in real life. I'd rather spend the $400 on an hour in the 44 (which by the way is 50% cheaper than you'll find over here in Blighty...) You're lucky if you can get an R22 dual for $550! Best of luck with your license. And even if you can't understand my point of using a sim for things you cannot do for real. I'd happily bet your opinion will change when you have first tasted solo flight.