ryuzu

Ahh well there you go. At 20000ft, 420KIAS/550TAS is about M.88.... (standard atmos) r.

Are you doing 420 IAS or 420 TAS? 420KIAS is about 550Kts TAS at 15000ft (assuming temp/pres are standard atmos). Only thing I can think of then is compressor stall at such high speeds... r.

Sorry - in the game menu it's the Create Fast Mission option... r.

Well, I'm far from an expert in anything Mission Related so see if someone else has better info. However, I think the Mission Generator isn't going to be able to produce a specific scenario like that - however, it does seem to include JTACs automatically but in this new version I'm still trying to figure out how to find the JTAC frequency and get in touch, so I generally just hunt for targets around the steerpoint. I'm entirely guessing now, but I think you can take the generated mission and edit it. Assuming that works I guess you can use the mission generator to get the unit mix on the map and customise from there. Good Luck! r.

The Mission Generator can be set to produce however many units you like. I like to set one with just some medium enemy and friendly forces and do a CAS. It's quite replayable and performance is good this way. r.

alt-C by default I think. Is that what you wanted? r.

Looking at your images it seems the target is a little off to the right - at a guess I'd say it's a yaw trim problem - either your feet are applying a bit of pedal input or you've got it trimmed that way. I find I tend to get close with the auto-turn but then tweak with my feet to get fully lined up. Without proper force feedback/hydraulic pedals it's just something to put up with. I've never used it so I'm not sure what it shows, but there's a command that let's you see controller positions I think - perhaps check that to see if it shows yaw input (make sure you've reset the trim beforehand). r.

Well each helicopter will react differently to the onset of VRS so ideally an actual KA50 pilot would provide the input. However, for what it's worth, in my experience (with medium Western Twin Turbine helicopters) the initial indicator of possible VRS is the "rumble" felt while decelerating below Effective Translational Lift - it's felt through the seat of the pants as a rumble - not enough to upset the trajectory of the aircraft, but enough to feel through the seat. Once you start to get into VRS the loss of ETL rumble is joined by the vibrations associated with putting a lot of power into the transmission because you're trying to stop the developing descent rate. Once it has developed into VRS the controls feel sloppy (like a fixed wing at the incipient stall phase), the aircraft is still rumbling and pitching and yawing and you're going down. When you demonstrate/practice VRS, the entry to it is all fairly gentle, but a couple of times, I've had it be rather nasty with a lot of yaw and pitching - it can potentially be a rather violent thing once you get in. Often the yawing in a Western style helicopter is because the tail rotor becomes less effective due to being inside the Vortices from the main rotor - so that, coupled with a high main rotor torque demand can lead to quite violent yawing also - given the lack of tail rotor on the KA50 - it may well react differently at this point. To be fair, I think the way it is simulated atm in Blackshark is about right in terms of what you see out of the window - I don't really want to see it modelled significantly differently or make it harder/easier to get - it's about right I'd say (having never flown the KA50!). We are missing the seat of the pants feeling of it though but that's not the fault of the sim. As a side note, you get a similar but shorter lived rumble while accelerating through ETL also. r.

As others here have said, you fly to avoid getting VRS and train for the recovery - consider it like stalling a fixed wing. However, it would be a misinterpretation to assume VRS only occurs in a hover - the only requirement is to have low air speed (usually trained as less than Effective Translational Lift - some use 17knots as the cutoff airspeed) but you may still have ground speed if you are downwind. The most likely time to get into VRS is when flying slowly downwind, perhaps setting up a hover, landing or attack run. The loss of ETL during the process will lead to an unexpected descent rate which, unchecked (perhaps because you're looking at a target) can develop into VRS as the airspeed decays. In the downwind scenario the pilot still thinks they have some airspeed since they still have ground speed. I've got it more often in the sim than in reality (in reality, like a fixed wing stall - I've only had it when I was looking to get it so far!) but in the sim wind awareness and kinesthetic senses (seat of your pants) are gone so you don't get that nagging feeling to look at the VSI... In reality, you feel a rumble as you pass through ETL when slowing down so that acts as a reminder to check your descent rate. r.

Well the development history part of the manual talks about the KA-50Sh which is a night variant. Here is some info from http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/ka-50.php: "Ka-50N (Nochnoy: Nocturnal): Also reported as Ka-50Sh. Night-capable attack version; essentially a single-seat Ka-52. Programme began 1993; originally based on TpSPO-V and Merkury LLLTV systems, which tested on Ka-50 development aircraft. Ka-50N first reported April 1997 as conversion of prototype 018 with Thomson-CSF Victor FLIR turret above the nose and Arbalet (crossbow) mast-mounted radar, plus second TV screen in cockpit; FLIR integrated with Uralskyi Optiko- Mekhanicheskyi Zavod (UOMZ) Samshit-50 (Laurel-50) electro-optic sighting system, incorporating French IR set. First flight variously reported as 4 March or 5 May 1997; programmed improvements included replacement of PA-4-3 paper moving map with digital equivalent; by August 1997, FLIR turret was repositioned below nose and Arbalet was removed; by mid-1998, had IT-23 CRT display replaced by TV-109, and HUD removed and replaced by Marconi helmet display. Proposed new cockpit shown in September 1998, having two Russkaya Avionika 203 x 152mm LCDs and central CRT for sensor imagery. Indigenous avionics intended for any local production orders; French systems as interim solution and standard for export. Republic of Korea Army evaluated both the Ka-50N and the baseline Ka-50. In 1999, pre-production aircraft 014 was exhibited with a UOMZ GOES sensor turret in place of Shkval." While it would be nice to have some night kit like this, I think the modelling required to produce this at the same level of fidelity as the rest of the simulation would be large - I imagine most would rather see the A10 or AH64 (personally I'd be happy with those getting delayed, well maybe not the 64, but the A10!). It also appears that while this version of the A/C has been demo'd it doesn't appear to have entered production.... No customers perhaps. r. ps. Samshit(!) is called Samsheet in the ED manual!

1. Nothing to add on what's been said! 2. There is at least one user made mission where you are tasked with destroying an insurgent camp by night. In that mission, a fixed wing drops flares to illuminate the area while you pick off targets. Quite a cool concept, particularly since the flares fade out and you have to wait for the next flare run. The printed manual also describes a technique for firing flare rockets to illuminate the area for yourself but I've not tried this out yet. 3. For tanks I use Vikhrs and keep the rockets and cannon for softer targets. Rockets aren't massively effective but lightly armoured stuff can be killed with the cannon. Can't think why you'd be inaccurate with it apart from obvious stuff like using the auto-tracking and laser ranging before firing. Closing the range will probably help though! r.

If you don't want to wait for Amazon, I got mine from RC Simulations - £19.99 + delivery (or you can collect). r.

I received mine today - 1 day after ordering. It came in a Jiffy bag and was also in a cellophane wrapper. It arrived in good condition, but if you're a collector concerned about packaging, then I imagine Amazon's boxes will offer best protection. Looks like a good book so far! r.

If you're in the UK, RC Simulations (nr Bristol) have it for £19.99 + delivery at £3.50. They seem to have them in stock so I guess you could collect if you wanted. r.

Well, yes, I think you are wrong. Not because you're incorrect about EGT, but because it is not a suitable instrument for a pilot to use for performance prediction. In a turbine helicopter EGT will show a range of 0 degrees C up to somewhere around 1000 degrees C. Going from ground to hover will require a temp. change of around 50 degrees C - the movement on the already small EGT guages is too small to be useful to the pilot and that is for a major change from ground to hover - cruise changes will be smaller still. Finally, the EGT indication will not advise you of over pitching or overloading the transmission system. To put it another way, if I see any significant movement on the turbine outlet temp gauge during any phase of flight, I'm expecting something bad to happen with that engine and thinking about a precautionary landing. In lieu of a TQ meter, Rotor pitch and the engine power indicators are the primary performance instruments. r.