Zius

The form is rather short, so I hope this helps you to get a good response rate. My question: my personal involvement in aviation is as follows: - Playing sims like DCS (I'm learning more Russian than English from this...) - Reading articles on-line (mostly English), magazines (mostly Dutch) and books (mixed) - Infrequently attending airshows, aviation musea etc. So, my involvement (especially transmitting instead of receiving) in actual aviation is close to zero. I have therefore not filled in the poll in order to not mix up your test results. Personally I would enter a few control question like: "Are you, as a hobby or professionally, involved in flying aircraft?". Answers: "yes", "no" or "only ground-based e.g. ATC, maintainance etc." And "How often do you have to communicate internationally in the above activity?" Answers: "Daily", "Weekly", "Unfrequent" Good luck!

Is there anything new to report regarding the Me-262? It is one of the modules I'm most looking forward to...

You can also have a look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Aero_L-39_Albatros_operators There are still a number of countries which are not represented in DCS, but which do operate DCS aircraft, like the L-39 or the MiG-21.

Why bother to design your own hotas for your indigenous fighter when you can just buy them off the shelf? Maybe Thrustmaster even offers a discount when you buy more than 200 pieces in one order!

And probably one that is "no longer supported by Microsoft"... The underlying question is, is the operational advantage of a networked airforce / army / navy big enough to negate the inherent risks? We simply have to accept that every networked thing can be hacked by a determined adversary. It is possible to make it slightly difficult by passwords, encryption etc., but to make it "impossible" means that you have to physically isolate (or remove) the network.

Apparently, Albania has tried to sell some of these relics, but somehow this seems not to have been very successful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_Air_Force#Recent_history Personally I would really like a MiG-15 for my front yard, if my front yard would be big enough...

Excellent news!! :thumbup:

I spend 30 minutes reading your previous posts and doing a bit of research, trying to guess from which country you are from. Just scrolling down would have been sufficient. :megalol: But I'm glad I was able to figure it out on my own.

Thanks!! Good stuff! Regarding the F-14, I of course fully understand and respect your reasoning, but IAF also operates the F-5E and MiG-21 (F-7)...

And the Yak-52! :pilotfly:

Between the MiG-21 and the Mirage 2000 (I have both) I would go for the MiG hands down. Especially if you have the Hornet already. The MiG-21 is unique in the combination of old fashioned technology with serious capability. Although I don't have the F-5 (yet). There are some issues with the present MiG-21 module (mainly due to DCS itself constantly evolving, I think) and support by the devs has maybe not been that fantastic lately but don't let that distract you too much: the MiG-21 is absolutely flyable and enjoyable at this point.

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing!!

What I would like is to really understand an aircraft. Not just be able to take-off, fly, (combat), land etc. but really understand how everything works. Given that I don't have a huge amount of free time to spend on this hobby, this is a challenge. For sure asking others is not the way to "solve" my "problem" (which actually doesn't need solving) but I thought it is an interesting question. And I think the "problem", which is due to simulation depth, is inherent to DCS and for sure more people have the same "problem". If we are talking about pure simulation of a certain aircraft, I'm not sure if I agree, because on more modern aircraft it is more difficult to get accurate data. But if you take the entire DCS ecosystem into account, you make some excellent points.

My opinion on F-18 vs. F-14: The F-18 is FBW and is very easy to fly. Since I fly most for fun, no combat, I find the F-18 a bit too easy to fly. I suspect the F-14 would be more of a challenge. On the other hand, I think that when all weapons and systems are implemented, the F-18 will be more capable, not to mention more allround. It will be very interesting to see how the RIO in the F-14 will be implemented. It could be either a big asset or not. In any case multicrew would be very interesting, but single player can be great or not so great depending on the AI. Personally I think I'll get the Tomcat as well, but I doubt that either is going to be my favourite aircraft, at least for the near future. I don't know about this. I'd say that the MiG-21 has much higher complexity than the Bf-109... Maybe strange example, but I mean to say: it depends on the aircraft. I have both the MiG-21 and the Viggen and both are highly complex and well modeled as far as I can tell.

Unfortunately the Tomcat isn't out yet... I have to say I'm a bit surprised about the overwhelming majority the Hornet has at the moment. Although it's obviously an aircraft with which you can do a lot of things, I have to say that I find flying it (without combat) a bit boringly easy, to be honest... The Viggen and the MiG-21 are also (somewhat) multirole and are more interesting to fly, in my opinion.

Thanks!

Of all diseases one can get, the ones that affect the brain scare me the most... All the best and great to hear that DCS helps you!

Thanks. The poll allows for up to 10 choices. I think helicopters and historical aircraft are quite something different than modern(-ish) jets and warrant their own poll. One of my favourite aircraft is the MiG-15, but it's kind of in it's own niche compared to the modern jets. DCS: Gripen would be awesome though... Actually I am doubting between the Albatros and the Viggen.

Personally I voted L-39 (ZA), because: - It flies like a dream - It's quite versatile (aerobatics, A2G and even A2A) - It's easy to understand and handle in all respects

If you could have only one DCS module, which one? If you could have only one DCS module, which one would it be? The reason why I'm asking (besides giving something to think about) is that I find myself with too many modules to be able to master all of them. At the moment I find myself going back and forth between various aircraft, but forgetting parts of the first one while learning about the second one / third one etc. For purpose of the poll (max 10 choices), I've skipped non-modern jets.

Wow... What kind of simulator is that? Would that be close to the real JSF cockpit? I couldn't attend for family reasons... Hopefully next year better luck...

I haven't tried dogfighting anything while flying the Hornet, but I did try dogfighting a number of different AI fighters while flying the MiG-15 (guns only). I'm not nearly an expert in the MiG-15, but it is the aircraft in which I spend a lot of my DCS time in. My conclusion was that the MiG-15 is absolutely fantastic in that setting. The only plane with which I had difficulty was the Sabre. The others, especially the modern fighters, were a piece of cake as they were not nearly as manoeverable, even when going vertical. The WW2 fighters on the other hand were way to slow. And although it seems easy (and probably partially accurate) to blame this on the AI, the experiences the USAF had in Vietnam vs. the MiG-17 did mirror my results. The MiG-15 / 17 is very effective in a very limited setting.

The III EZ also has the bulge, apparently: http://www.saairforce.co.za/gallery-and-media/82/mirage-iiiez# Anyway, my personal vote is Mirage III. If I could specify further III E, because: - It's widely exported and used in a number of scenario's by a number of countries. People now seem to focus on a Falkland theather, but an Angola theater would also be interested. Just saying... - It's a good match for MiG-21bis - It's one of the more capable III versions, as well as more multirole Both the CJ and the Dagger seem quite limited and niche. IMHO.

I'd buy it. I think a modernised MiG-21 can be a decent fighter for a low-budget airforce and could (if employed well) still make life difficult for modern Blue fighters. Even adding the R-73 (and HMS) to the Bis would already be a big improvement.

One of the things I'm very happy about with the Persian Gulf map are the new and overall very good looking ships. Especially the tanker is exceptionally well done. https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/4471395/184f5c3f8e613a8e94806b821e885b0379fb17f5.jpg The containership is also nice, although the transversally loaded containers are a bit stupid. It's something I've never seen before and they also can't be loaded or discharged by the gantry cranes in the port of Dubai. ;) https://stormbirds.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/persiangulf-cargo.jpg Now, I think it would be really cool to turn these models in AI units, which can be placed on the map using the mission editor. Ideally, it would be great to make them sinkable as well. You could create some really cool scenario's with them.