AcroGimp

Outstanding job by the A-4E team, the Scooter looks fantastic and is great fun to fly in VR! 'Gimp

@BeachAV8R, thanks for the kind words. The Yak requires pro-spin controls to remain in most 'normal' spins, and recovers quite quickly, between 1/4 and 1/3 turn, the spin behavior in DCS feels pretty accurate at this point although I have not flown a dedicated spin flight in DCS recently. The real plane will transition from an aerodynamic spin to a hybrid aerodynamic/inertia spin mode under certain loading conditions (aft CG) that requires a long recovery period, pilots get impatient or think they entered wrong correction, then switch to what is in actuality pro-spin inputs and end up riding the plane into the dirt - IMO this is the plane's only real vice - other than that is hand's down the best performance/grin per dollar sportplane out there - tons of character. 'Gimp

FWIW, in my Yak I fly pitch for airspeed, throttle for descent rate. 'Gimp

Well, I have been away from DCS and the Yak for a little bit, got a chance to fly it again today and seems there may have been some updates. I also recently flew my Yak for a Missing Man Memorial at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery for a Tuskeegee Airman and captured some in cockpit video of a couple things previously discussed. The throttle position for start and 40% idle is still way off compared to my plane (timehack 1:08 ). What yields 40% in my plane produces about 60% in the Sim. Still needs work I think. Starts are much better, air consumption rate for start is modeled correctly I think, however fast starts will result in very little air used, this seems to be programmed to flow for a certain amount of time whether the engine starts or not. See start in my video (timehack 2:15, even with 2 starts I barely used any air, less than .5 atmospheres, starting at 4.5 indicated). Also noted that the compressor builds air pressure now but it builds up way too fast at idle, should take MUCH longer to refill the tank - as in usually about 10 minutes at power for level flight after a routine engine start, taxi and gear retraction after takeoff. Prop pitch change is still wrong by factor of 3X, check (timehack 2:50) in video I did in my Yak last week to show how fast the prop works. Rudder is definitely off in the wrong direction now for most flight regimes, only needs active left rudder at speeds below 150 kph or so, this with takeoff assist off and no change to the base trim setting - not realistic. Right rudder requirement is better than before but not enough required, transition between amount needed for left and right rudder with speed changes is too abrupt and also not enough travel required. Inverted flight has radically improved, much, much better both in terms of pitch authority and roll balance - I would rate this as fully realistic now. Pulls to the vertical are very difficult to get a pure wings level pull, more difficult than the real plane - not sure what the issue is here yet, might be controller setup rather than in the model. I spent some time with a random airshow routine over the NTTR map and would say there has been a marked improvement overall, still work to do before it makes sense to post another video review though. Last item is the flap pitch moment and drag are still off. Notice in video of my Yak (timehack 4:15) there is next to no pitch change with flap deployment and it is not because of any significant stick deflection on my part. So looks like improvements are being made, hopefully progress continues to be made. Once it feels closer to the real Yak I'll do another video. 'Gimp

In the real plane we tend to taxi a little faster than normal Western planes in order to have airflow over the rudder, this lets us steer and preserve air since the compressor refills the main tank slowly at less than flight power. In close quarters, you lead with rudder, use maximum deflection typically, THEN stab the brakes with a squeeze of the lever - so if you want to turn left for example you put in full left rudder and will then squeeze and release the brake lever several times to get the nosewheel to brake over and turn left. After about 5 minutes it becomes second nature. Ideally you should use an analog axis because in the real plane you can modulate the pressure, just not too many sticks that are setup to accurately model this system. 'Gimp (DISCO vVMFA-122)

Sydy, I am now at 30 curves and still not happy, too light - I was going to make an updated review video but the plane actually feels worse to me right now - need to fly it again and see what is happening before I do another review. JK

Latest FM is still not correct for rudder and is actually less accurate than before I think. Next to no left rudder required on T/O is inaccurate, real plane requires substantial left rudder through about 170 KPH, tailing off to neutral around 200-220 kph, and then shifting to right rudder as speed increases such that substantial right rudder required above 270-ish kph. Not uncommon to use several inches of pedal travel between left/right extremes when flying a loop or quarter clover. 'Gimp (DISCO vVMFA-122)

The current Yak flight model, in my opinion as a Yak Owner/Pilot, while improving is actually still 'too' maneuverable, stick and especially rudder forces are way too light and it still lacks sufficient negative elevator to reliably effect any of the outside maneuvers see in the linked video (still cannot get a clean outside snap or any kind of inverted spin entry as of my last attempts Wednesday evening). I have finally been able to get a vertical Lomcevak using the proper technique but understand that is with a slow deliberate movement of the stick and it is not what I consider repeatable yet. IRL most (but not all) Yak's with the 3-blade prop (clearly seen in the video) are running with hopped up engines of 400-420 hp, or more - lots of mods from increased compression pistons to using the -PF supercharger gear set, etc. ED is making progress but there are still substantial variations from the real aircraft. The engine should not hesitate, stumble or hiccup at all under negative G. 'Gimp (DISCO vVMFA-122)

Update - my issue with DCS hanging in the load screen and Core 11 going rogue appears to have been related to Oculus Core 2.0 Beta and Public test Channel - I rolled Oculus back to stable and no Public Test Channel and can get in the sim - having same issues with bottom half of world not being clickable for menus and the laggy fore/aft and side-to-side translations but at least I can get in. 'Gimp

Tried latest hotfix and still same issue for me, even setting menu to lowest possible resolution. Gets halfway through loading page, Core 11 goes to 100% and then hung, Ctrl-Alt-Del only way out. VR is completely INOP. Latest Oculus Beta Core, patched Thursday/Friday, latest Nvidia drivers. Could ED have accidentally used an older Oculus API? 'Gimp (DISCO vVMFA-122)

It's a weapons select failure note related to going from A2G to A2A - one of the LAU rack's I think. 'Gimp (DISCO vVMFA-122)

Max continuous power is 82% RPM and essentially any MP up to 800 mmHg. The actual M-14P is an extremely reliable engine that is tolerant of anything other than severe overtemps. 'Gimp (DISCO vVMFA-122)

Still unable to play in VR after hotfix, locks up during load screen, Core 11 goes rogue to 100% load and DCS hangs, no crash report but have to Ctrl-Alt-Delete to get out. Tried rolling back Nvidia driver, no joy. Used repair and clean in Skatezilla, vanilla install, no mods at all - still no bueno. So rolled back to previous Open Beta version, hopefully something changes soon or I'll miss multiplayer missions with my group. 'Gimp (DISCO vVMFA-122)

New OB update not generating error logs like previous - was locking up for me in VR, literally stuck in loading page - 8700K Core 11 showing 100% with others around 20-30%, 1070 Ti GPU showing 100% (used to be 60-90% but when playing not loading). Oculus Rift, latest driver (updated today). After wasting 3 hours trying repair, clean, etc., I uninstalled DCS entirely and installed previous version via Skatezilla, now sudden issues with a 3rd party mod not being recognized that wipes out most of my Hornet missions - frustrating. 'Gimp

Quick Formation references video, CV Rendezvous, Parade Wing 'Gimp (DISCO vVMFA-1221)

'Gimp / DISCO vVMFA-122

You can isolate the system from the main air tank and related lines by placing BOTH front and rear levers in neutral IF you suspect a leak for example in the gear or flap system, if there are two pilots in the plane. With the gear however, if you have the lever neutral you should put the lever to the UP position if the gear is retracted before putting it DOWN or the gear will slam down like it does with the emergency system, it needs both the up and down sides of the actuator pressurized to operate smoothly. 'Gimp

Concur on all and have said as much in my reviews. The odd thing is the airplane should not be be BOTH too draggy and too clean, but that is the behavior observed, the model accelerates too fast on the downline and decelerates too fast on the upline. Also agree on roll rate for slow rolls - need to do a few more but I think the snap rolls might be a little slow but the barrel tendency with the nose seems about right. 'Gimp

One way to address the current flap drag issue appears to be moving prop full forward (fine) at around the same time you deploy the flaps, this is early compared to how I fly the Yak IRL but the way DCS models prop drag/vs thrust appears to favor the fine pitch. This is NOT how I fly IRL but may be a workaround for now. 'Gimp

Thanks Limey! Congrats on the nuptials BTW. Very happy for you and Midget. Gennady doesn't teach aileron for any spin recovery, DOSAAF focuses on min height loss, I'll try a little in-spin during a flat next time I focus on spins. We'll have to do some DCS MP form acro when you have time, maybe real world too. 'Gimp

Spent more time with the Yak over past couple days and have captured some additional thoughts/observations. To be very clear, this was flown and recorded BEFORE today's update so some of these issues may have been addressed. I have a business trip to see the FAA on a customer project and won't be back until Saturday so any updates will have to wait for me until then. I did verify that my real world start procedure appears to 'flood' the DCS M-14P, staying closer to the DCS procedure works fine. SUGGESTION FOR ED - consider slowing the brake pressure ramp up for pilots who are not using Warthogs or Virpil of VKB sticks with the analog lever, I use the trigger on my T.16000M and it is too digital, if the brakes can be feathered a little ground handling will improve. I will be moving to the Virpil setup soon but for more casual sim pilots this would be a nice cockpit option. Hope you enjoy/find useful. 'Gimp

My recollection is that an inspection is only required if the engine was making a certain level of power but since I have not had nor do I intend to have a prop strike I am going from memory when I first got the plane 3 and half years ago. I do know from one of our engine rebuilders that they have not recorded damage to engines that were inspected after prop strikes. 'Gimp

You can retract the gear in the real plane with WOW under some conditions, and the plane was designed to land with the gear retracted with little damage depending on the orientation of the prop which is itself designed to shatter in order to prevent damage to nosecase and rest of the engine. It is an exceedingly clever design. 'Gimp

Flap drag is WAY off but I believe they are working it along with other things. 'Gimp

Quick note on ailerons and spin behavior in the real Yak. The Yak features a lot of very clever design elements - the ailerons are very powerful and remain energized and very effective deep into the stall given their slotted design and very slight offset hinge points. They will NOT however take the plane out of a spin. In-Spin aileron as I recall causes a slight flattening, Out-Spin aileron significantly accelerates the rate of rotation and flattens the spin as well. This is called an Aggravated Spin and I demonstrate one in a video I linked on my Advanced Spins thread. And to clarify, I for one am not just complaining here, I want this module to be successful and in order for that to happen it needs to be right - especially if it is being portrayed as the result of a professional training tool development. I am satisfied that the developers have more/better elements of the flight model in their internal build and am happy to wait for that to be released - but some things were so far out of sync with the real plane I felt compelled to comment on them. It seems that by and large ED is listening and taking the critique in the spirit intended (to help make it better). 'Gimp