Ryano4242

During a vacation to San Diego recently I got to sit in the cockpit of a F-14D in the USS Midway. :) (pushing kids out of the way and yelling "RESEARCH!!! OUT OF MY WAY!!!...j/k) Despite the fact the HUD for the pilot had been pulled the RIO pit showed it was certainly a D model. Climbing in I was struck by how different things looked on my flat screen using TrackHat! Gauges were not at my point of view, I had to really look down in my lap to see a lot of the switches and controls but the forward view was much better the front and side views were much better...and I knew where everything was! It was then I thought I have to try VR. Friday night I fired up the brand new Rift S... HOLY %$^&! The POV was exactly the same. Heatblur nailed it! Despite the lower graphics it was amazing. Flying around the Carrier pattern, the ability to look over the shoulder AND the 3D sensation of sinking or rising really fools your inner ear! I am glad I waited for a decent VR rig and all I can say is WHOA.

Anyone received a shirt yet? It’s as allusive as a Sasquatch wearing a flight suit! :)

No shirt yet...I am assuming it's on a slow freighter from Europe to Santa Fe! Still running to the mailbox after work to look...and nuthin' :P

FYI! Just got my shipment notification from HB! IT'S HAPPENING!!! :D

FYI...I got it too when exiting to desktop from flight. Ending DCS Task in Task Manager let me go back to Windows

Check out the Orlando F-14 demonstration on YouTube that is inside the cockpit with the RIO... He's constantly giving altitude, speed, wing sweep calling for "cans" all kinds of info. I know some thinks it's TMI but it sure seemed it helped. One point he called out that he was losing altitude in the minimum radius circle slightly and you see the back angle change. All about teamwork! :D

UPDATE tblSocialLife SET tblSocialLife.enabled = NULL where tblSocialLife.Tomcat = 1 :D

It really helped in the Aerosoft 'Cat and it helped with this one; crank up the red lighting even in the daytime :)

My cousin rocked a superior stache:

OH NOOOOO! ALL THE SERVERS HAVE CRASHED https://media1.tenor.com/images/f9f5e091402a9fe0ce435580523255d2/tenor.gif?itemid=4385516

"Twas the night before re-lease...and all through the ready room..." :D

Compared to a Century Series fighter with slow responding engine or an F-4 Phantom hanging on it's engines to land, the B model Tomcat is tons more forgiving to fly slow. F-104: 180 kts. over the threshold at a slight nose high and > 60% thrust or it falls from the sky like a brick...now that is nuts! :D The thread that Victory205 started was really helpful and in a way reassuring! "You have 0ver 100 kts...you are still flying" was such great advice when I let the F-14 stall...and kept me patient and let it nose over. Watch all the great videos and read...in time you will be growing your moustache for your carrier quals!

Damn...:thumbup:

Well the overtake is all about first impressions and for the VF-84 boys it’s “welcome to the future...it’s a Tomcat” :D

Work on slow speed handling characteristics...I've got Zeros to splash! :D

Thank you!!! That was easy! VF-1 for my cousin! WOLFPACK!!!! :D

While it was there the Jolly Rogers shirt looked simply amazing! I would go with that one but I have to honor my late cousin who was a back seater with VF-1 on their first deployment. More famously known for flying another sweet ride; the MMU. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Gardner Got to spend some time with him when he visited us in 1987 when he did a presentation at local Reservation. We talked about how noisy the ventilation system was on the shuttle and that it was reassuring, how precise the MMU was to inputs and a movie that came out called "Top Gun" "The film takes certain liberties" :D

All of our PC’s will be sounding like this quite soon! :megalol:

After the inevitable D/L and patching: Queue up the Harold Faltermeyer intro to Top Gun on a loop...NOT the "Anthem"...it's important! Read as little as possible from the docs with the Cat sitting at one end of the runway at Nellis...burning 1000 lbs. of JP-4 until things are mapped and confidence is high... Then...hopefully the first of the airshow maneuvers; max climb back around into the Flat 8! Control-R to reset the mission...lol.

"Splash the Yaks...repeat...splash the Yaks"

I would suggest getting some stick time in an analog jet like Milviz's F-4's...or if you are crazy enough a F-104! :D The Phantom takes no guff from being ham handed or slamming it around...the Phantom pilots were pleased transitioning to the Tomcat about how much easier it was to fly! :P

I know some are itching to recreate dogfights from Top Gun...but how about The Final Countdown??? :D DCS Zero!?! :D