britgliderpilot

. . . . . . The glider I learned to fly on (would have been 26 this year if some silly bugger hadn't crashed it) was constructed almost entirely of GRP, and the type has just had a life extension to 18,000 hours if the metal parts of the airframe are replaced . . . . . Built in 1980, so probably one of the earliest all-composite aircraft around - see the Wikipedia page here for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schleicher_ASK_21 It's unpressurised and not an airliner, but 18,000 hours is 18,000 hours and a glassfibre main spar is a glassfibre main spar ;)

If I recall correctly, there was a bug that changed unusual aspect ratios back to "normal" after flying the Su33. Have a look - is that what's causing this one? Not sure whether it was solved.

We could already do new models - we just had to have them approved and converted by Eagle before they released the tools :)

Dive in for single passes from high altitude. Dive in steeply with speedbrakes extended, put the pipper on target and fire as soon as you're within range . . . . immediately retract the speedbrakes, pull up, bank and climb away out of the valley . . . . helps if you have the IR jammer on, pop the occasional flare, and make gentle aileron turns slightly off to each side of your desired flightpath as you're climbing out. When you've climbed out of the threat area, go around and do it again - from a different direction if possible. In general, you've just got to stay out of their engagement range - this means using the Vikhrs from relatively high altitude (4000m should be OK) and standoff range, and for weapons where you have to lay sights on the target then use the steep-dive profile wherever possible.

I wish you the best of luck trying, but unfortunately I doubt you'll be particularly successful. The F-16 mod just reskins another aeroplane with the F-16 external model - in order to bring the additional capabilities you're looking for you'd have to modify the existing aircraft to that standard. I'm pretty sure the antiradar missiles and GBUs won't work for the simple reason that there's no code to support them - may be the possibility of getting somewhere with the ECM, though. The big problem is that TV-guided missiles and antiradar missiles were given new code for Flaming Cliffs with the more advanced modelling in the Su25T - the old code that worked on the "normal" aircraft was either disabled or removed entirely.

A truly great man - the world will be a grimmer place for his passing. Rest in Peace dude - shall remember the grinning Aussie bellyflopping onto crocodiles with the trademark "Crikey!" war cry with fondness.

No, I'd hate you if you posted a detailed, gloating story (with pics) about a joyride in a Javelin :P Right now I just wish I had some of your money . . . . and could escape this mysterious Don Ernesto, of course. Guys? Anyone feel like ripping off a drug lord? Get the Russians in on it . . . . we can't lose!

It is as well. Oh well - ignore previous comments then :P

Granted, it's hidden away after a sticky clear-up, but there is a LOOOOOONG list of things that we'd like improving about the Eagle - see this link: http://forum.lockon.ru/showthread.php?t=5658 The Devs have read it, they've weighed in, they've taken it on board - what remains to be seen is whether they have the time to implement it in v1.2, the lions share of which is inevitably going to be focussed on the Ka50. They'd like to see improvements as much as we would, but pressures of development and funding may delay it longer than some would like.

Yum!

Overclocked to 3666Mhz, I should bloody hope it's faster! OK, so definitely worth a look if overclocking . . . .

I think I want some of your spare money! The benchmarks I've seen still give the AMD 64-bit dual-core chips the advantage over the new Intel chips in games. Neither REALLY use both cores, simply because most games (certainly Lomac) are single-threaded . . . . but AMD are still in front. If it's a gaming machine only and you want raw performance, then take the AMD. If it needs to be a professional machine as well, running multiple-threaded applications, then it seems that the Intel offering will probably have the edge.

I've got it - 269 photographs of the manual pages, all in Russian. 50-odd Mb. Haven't got it shared . . . . am wondering if it might be possible to get MrWolf at Lockonskins to put it up for download there in some kind of category . . . . shall see if I can ask.

Yup, but two additional points: ED have not accepted a new 3D model for the Flanker on the grounds that they want to build it themselves - so they are thinking about it. ED have a manual for the F/A-18A now, so we're getting closer. Performance data is one thing, and is rather more in the public domain than the important stuff about how the avionics and weapons systems work. In the USN, this is bundled with classified data (think AMRAAM performance data), and hence very, very difficult to get at. The stuff about adding new aircraft is spot-on, though.

True dat. It's useful! After a while you don't need to look at the label, you just know that a particular switch does a particular job. The flashing label is just the icing on the cake.

These two off the top of my head - yes it's for real, and yes it's still ugly ;)

They're effectively BASE jumping chutes, they're actually spring-loaded for a faster deployment ;)

Where's your information coming from? The R-27EA was an entry for the competition that the R-77 won. They built a few units but it never entered service. I can find only one website mentioning anything about the R-27EA in Chinese service - got anything more? I've seen a dev quote a cost for modelling a new aircraft - putting in new aircraft and new information is more difficult than you seem to imagine. Again - WHERE is your information coming from?

So most of our Bf109s are Spanish, and some of the Spits are Portuguese? I like it . . . . . grin. On a historical note, it's referred to as the Battle of Britain - Wales and Scotland would get rather pissed off if you refer to it only as England! The Spit IV was a development aircraft for the Griffon, the number never saw production . . . . which one did you mean?

It's a Spitfire for sure. Twin radiators mean it's at the very least a Mk IX, could be a Griffon Spit but I can't tell from this angle and this footage. Easiest way to tell is the way the cowling is bulged for the cylinder heads of the larger engine - I can't tell here, if anyone else can spot it then please do tell :)

The Su27SK is the export version of the Su27S - no more than that. It's not a higher spec. The R27EA was never produced, either . . . . So where did you get this information?

Sixteen thousand feet? Heh, heh, heh. Our chutes are advertised as working from a standstill at three HUNDRED feet - a hundred feet to accelerate, a hundred feet for the chute to open, and a hundred feet to decelerate. 'Course, you've got to be out of the aircraft at that point, which is where the really interesting part comes in . . . .

The throttle is controlled automatically by the onboard computers as a result of how much collective you're pulling. As such, you can fly the Ka50 with a normal HOTAS. Cyclic is indeed pitch and roll, rudder is indeed yaw, and collective is up/down. . . . . in normal forward flight, anyway.

OMG!! c0np5p1r4cy!!111!!onehundredandeleven111!!1!!one!! He was flying either an F-15B or an F-15D - they're the two-seat versions of the F-15A and C, with a very basic back seat for checkrides, highly useful in ACM training. The first F-15E was an F-15B with bomb racks nailed on ;) I'm certain it's possible if you approach at those speeds.

Wave flying . . . . grin. Minden is the wave capital of America, I hope to make the pilgrimage one day. Diamond flights (that's a fifteen thousand foot height gain . . . . . ) are commonplace there, it's a truly spectacular place . . . . Re-bloody-spect for that pilot - lucky as all hell! Unfortunately, though, I think he'll probably have missed out on the badge - probably got aerotowed to 2k feet, and even if they recover the logger from the wreckage . . . . . I doff my cap to the pilot involved - it is an incredibly lucky and awesomely spectacular way to earn a place in the Caterpillar Club. He won't have to buy a beer in a gliding club for the rest of his life! edit - I'm miffed that they spec the Lear, but not the glider - he was flying an ASW27, which is a single-seat, 15m Racing Class glider. The whole trailing edge moves for either flaps or ailerons, it's smashing machine. Vne is 154 knots, 48:1 glide angle. One site couldn't find any data on the ASW27 and posted a pic of an ASH25 instead saying it was "similar". Similar, yeah, except it's an Open Class (ie. Rules=no) and it's got 30 feet more wingspan and two seats . . . . . !! Shame it went down, it's a nice ship. Still, rather lose the aircraft than your life :)