Joe Kurr

Don't forget the bent pitot tube ;) That's my aircraft during an online formation flight last week-end, after I had a mid-air collision with a Tu-95. I lost all electronics, but was still able to get it home safely :) Two more screenshots, just after impact: You can still see the burning debris of the Tu-95 on the ground.

Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to photograph aerobatics pilot Frank Versteegh "up close and personal". Together with 15 other photographers, we were placed in two groups along the runway, while Frank did a 10-minute demo in his Extra-300L. Since this wasn't an official airshow, the usual rules didn't apply, and Frank could do whatever he wanted, which he did. During our briefing, he announced that he would be using "the terrain" in his demo. But, since Teuge Airport doesn't have any "terrain" to speak of, "the terrain" would be anything higher than the grass, including us. Before this event, I have never seen an aircraft fly past me so low (only centimeters off the ground), and so close (about 20 meters, maybe less). Below is a small impression of what Frank Versteegh is capable off when not bound to any rules. Given that he is also a flight safety expert, we can take it for granted that everything he showed us was perfectly safe. 1. A quick knife-edge just after take-off 2. A "high" fly-by 3. Side-slip 4. A "rather low" fly-by 5. A "low" fly-by (according to Frank this was still too high) 6. How close can you get to an aircraft doing aerobatics? 7. THIS close! 8. Frank used everything sticking out of the ground to his advantage, here he is taking a stroll in the woods 9. After the demo, Frank parked his aircraft and the photographers re-assembled in the restaurant for a debrief and a beer.

Last Friday, LigerZero and I paid a visit to the NATO Tiger Meet Spotters Day at Kleine Brogel Airbase in Belgium. We arrived at the gate of the airbase at 6:30, just in time to beat the expected traffic jam and queue to get in. When the gate opened around 8:00, we were among the first to get in. Compared to the last spotters day, getting an entrance ticket was a breeze, with six waiting lines, three of which were for people who bought their tickets in pre-sale. Once on-base, we had to walk quite a distance to get to the public area, past some maintenance hangars and sports facilities. We decided to go to Public Area 2, situated between the two runways. This way, we could photograph both the active runway (05L), turn around and see the taxiing aircraft on the parallel runway behind us. Here is a small selection of the 700+ pictures I made during the day. Enjoy! Next year, the Tiger Meet will be hosted by 313 Squadron of the Royal Netherlands Air Force, at Volkel Airbase.

Isn't it Air Force One where they board the VC-25 through the refuel boom from a KC-10? :D

Some more: 1. MiGs in Top Gun look just like F-5E's 2. In Hot Shots they operate Folland Gnats (with after burner!) from an aircraft carrier (might have been an intentional "fail" though) 3. Can't remember the movie's title, but they have F-117s with folding wings and after burners, which fly out of a C-5A

I just installed LOFC on Windows 7 (x64) in D:\Lock On and it works like a charm. Just make sure you install everything (lockon, Flaming Cliffs, Patch 1.12b, SF Update) with Administrator privileges.

I installed Flaming Cliffs under Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (RTM) using Sid6dot7's post (#19) as a reference, and it works like a charm! Just remember to install everything with administrator privileges. This also applies to the first time you start LOFC to install the Starforce driver. After the first reboot, you will get a message that the starforce driver is disabled (hence the infinite start LOFC / reboot loop). Ignore this message and install the Starforce update. After that you're good to go.

Not necessarily. The lowest price I found here in the Netherlands is € 247,98. Link So maybe you might find lower prices in the UK as well :) If not, you might try and send the shop in my link an e-mail and see if they deliver in the UK as well.

This year's NATO Tiger Meet will be hosted by the Belgian Air Force's 31 Smaldeel, at Kleine Brogel Airbase. The meet will run from September 14th until 25th, with a spotters day on September 18th. This spotters day will be one of the biggest events in Europe this year, with probably close to 100 participating aircraft. Besides hosting the Tiger Meet, Kleine Brogel also serves as a staging base for the Sanicole Airshow, which is in the same weekend. Here is a list of confirmed aircraft (73 in total, as of August 14th). This list does not include Sanicole participants. Tiger Meet Participants: Belgium 5x F-16AM (31 Smd) [*]Czech Republic 2x JAS-39C (211 Sqn) 2x Mi-24 (211 Sqn) [*]France 5x Mirage 2000RDI (EC 01/012) 3x Rafale B/C (EC 05/330) 2x Mirage 2000-5 (EC 05/330) [*]Germany 3x Tornado IDS (AG 51) 2x Tornado ECR (JaboG 321) - Weekend only [*]Hungary 3x JAS-39C (59/1 Puma Sqn) [*]Italy 2x AB-212 (21 Gruppo) [*]NATO AEWCF 1x E-3A (1 Sqn) [*]Netherlands 6x F-16AM (313 Sqn) [*]Norway 6x F-16AM (338 Sqn) [*]Portugal 2x F-16AM (301 Esq) - Weekend only [*]Spain 5x Mirage F-1 (142 Esq) 2x EF/A-18 (ALA 15) [*]Switzerland 5x F/A-18C (11 Staffel) [*]United Kingdom 1x Merlin HM.1 (814 Sqn/RN) Non-Tiger participants (Support / Red Forces) Belgium 1x C-130 (15 Wing) 5x F-16AM (349 Sqn) 2x SF-260 (5 Sqn) 2x A-109 (Heli Wing) [*]Switzerland 2x F-5E (Patrouille Suisse) - Week 2 only More info and news about the event can be found at the NTM 2009 Web Site Some appetizer shots from a previous spotters day at the same airbase: I'll be there for sure, hope to see some of you there as well :)

For two-way switches, you can map one action to the 'on' state, and another to the 'off' state. This limits the number of connections needed on the controller significantly. I'm using this approach in our Su-27 cockpit project, where I have four switches in my current test setup, connected to four inputs on my interface board, but mapped to eight functions in-game (left/right engine on/off, gear up/down, flaps up/down) The board I'm testing with is the Velleman K8055, which will be replaced by the K8061 in the future. Here are some specs of the K8061: - 8 analogue 10 bit resolution inputs: 0…5 or 10VDC / 20kohm - 8 analogue 8 bit resolution outputs: 0…5V or 10VDC / 47ohm - 8 digital inputs: open collector compatible (connection to GND=0) with on board LED indication - 8 digital open collector outputs (max. 50V/100mA) with on board LED indication - one 10 bit PWM output: 0 to 100% open collector output (max 100mA / 40V) with on board LED indication. - general response time: 4ms per command - USB Port: 2.0 and 1.1 compatible (USB cable included) - Up to 8 cards can be connected to one PC Only drawback I noticed with the K8055 is that it conflicts with TrackIR. Don't know if this is the case with the K8061 as well.

How about this for a touch-and-go :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfeMLQNe57E&NR=1

There is already a sim in the works which features (amongst others) the Harrier Gr.3, called Jet Thunder

That should work. I haven't tested that, because it´s less realistic. If I put the gear up for example, I want the gear lever to stay up until I put it down again, and not spring back to its center position. With the interface board I´m using now, my gear stays up until I put the lever back down. I can even put it in the ´up´ position during take-off to retract the gear as soon as I'm airborne :)

I tested the use of a keyboard controller a while ago, see Introducing the DFDT Cockpit Project. Unfortunately the pictures are gone, due to a server crash some time ago. In the end I dropped the idea, because it has some drawbacks: If you use standard switches, you will sticky keys, which might become a problem when you use chords (e.g. Ctrl-G / Shift-G for gear) I tried to solve this using a small circuit that only gives a short pulse when a switch position changes. This circuit was needed for every switch in our cockpit. You will eventually end up with an enormous tangle of wires, since every switch or button has to be connected separately, otherwise you may get undesired keypresses. I now use a Velleman K8055 usb board control our in and outputs. the board comes with a dll which you can use to poll the positions of the switches, and set the values for the outputs. So no need anymore for pulse generators and the like. Only problem I found with this board so far is that you can't use it together with TrackIR, but that is easily solved by using a second PC for your controls.

Friday Continued... Patrouille de France also did a demo on Friday, before leaving to Le Bourget on Saturday morning Lucky shot :D The RAF Beech King Air lands after a very nice display. After that it was time for the Red Arrows, the 'most hansome pilots in the world by far' according to their narrator The reds were followed by the absolute highlight of this year's show: the Avro Vulcan Straight from Le Bourget, a brand-new Italian NH-90

The RNLAF F-16 Demoteam posted a nice report on their website Some more pictures, made on Friday - Airshow day one. Arrival of the 'Uiver', an ex-KLM DC-2 which participated in the 1934 London-Melbourne Race. One of three Alouette III heli's still in service in the RNLAF A unique event: For the first time in 100 years a Wright Flyer flies above Dutch soil Slightly newer are these Beech-18T and T-6 Harvards from the RNLAF Historical Flight Entering the Jet Age :) Four BAC Strikemasters of the Viper Display Team They don't come much newer than this: an RAF Eurofighter Typhoon roars to the sky for its display The 'most handsome pilots in the world' (according to their narrator) were also present The airpower demo was rather short, and although spectacular with 15 F-16s over the airbase at once, not very realistic. This 55 Year Anniversary tail is designed by Fitch, who also does the Lowland Tiger Meet badges. Sheik in actie, zag er weer strak uit. The Lion King in action. Captain Ralph 'Sheik' Aarts flew another great display. Too bad it's his last year as demo pilot After his display, he taxis back to his parking spot next to Hangar 3

Two pics of the MiG-29 demo on Friday: Personally I found the MiG-29 demo a bit dull. Its display was comparable to that of both F-16s, while the MiG-29 is capable of much more. It didn't perform the famous and much expected Tail Slide and Cobra manouver we got used to from the Russian, Hungarian and Czech MiG-29 displays.

Last weekend, Volkel Airbase opened its gates for the annual RNLAF Open Days. This year I was one of 400 fortunate spotters who were allowed on-base on Thursday, the main arrival day. Below is a small impression of the spotters day: C-160 Transall of the Turkish Stars, with a USAF C-17A in the background Full reverse An SH-14D Lynx of the Dutch navy is being placed on the static show, right in front of us "Orange 2", the RNLAF F-16 Demoteam scooter, with the coach 'Bitch' (waving), and pilot 'Sheik' on the back seat The Spanish EF-18A is practicing its display During his high-speed pass, he hit Mach 0.99, resulting in visible shockwaves above the aircraft. Another rare participant to Dutch airshows is this Slovakian L-39ZA Albatross Another addition to the static show: a German Bo-105CB A PC-7 elementary trainer aircraft taxiing towards Hangar 3, the main recruiting place of the Dutch Airforce The new Dutch demo F-16, here with coach 'Omelet' at the controls, on its way to escort the Polish MiG-29UB F-16BM J-066 'Orange Jumper'. This is the most modern F-16 in the Dutch airforce, currently being used for testing the new M5 avionics package. Another highlight at the static line: a Greek F-16D Block 52+, which flew non-stop from its home-base to Volkel. The Polish MiG-29UB has arrived The 'Orange Jumper' on its way to its spot on the static show 'Omelet' laat nog even de bovenkant van de kist zien, voordat hij binnenkomt voor de landing. Before landing, 'Omelet' does a nice knife-edge flyby showing the Dutch Lion on the top of the demo F-16 The Dutch F-16 Demoteam represents KiKa, a foundation to prevent cancer in children. Every spotter entering the airbase donated a small amount of money, which was handed to F-16 demo pilot 'Sheik'. The sign he is holding says: "The participants to the spotters day at Volkel on June 18th, 2009, donate the RNLAF F-16 Display Team on behalf of the KiKa Foundation the amount of 1000 Euros" Another nice Slovakian participant: an Antonov An-26 And yet another helicopter landing in front of us: a Royal Navy Lynx Patrouille de France was nog druk aan het verkennen en oefenen In the afternoon, the Patrouille de France took off to locate landmarks and practice their display. That's it for now, next up: Friday - Airshow Day 1

Don't know whether it has been asked before in this thread, but haven't got the time to read all 86 pages... Please fix multi-player AAR. At this moment, only the host can refuel, because clients don't see the hoses on the IL-78.

Thanks :D We're beta testing Battlefield Heroes, and couldn't resist making a LOFC movie with that game's tune :)

Thanks :) At this moment there is nothing to say about the next location, this will be investigated when the debriefs are done. We are always open for suggestions though, so if you know a good location in the Netherlands, Belgium or Western Germany, please let us know.

This has been my 10th LLTM, and the first time ever with people from the Dutch Flanker Display Team on the podium. I managed to get the second place in the Lockon championship, and win the Lockon Airrace. Wasserfall won the Aerobatics Tournament with Sawamura and me coming second and third. Here's a picture of our team, with some other people you might recognize :) Left to right: Groove, Lightsniper, Dee, LigerZero, Jim, Joe Kurr, Wasserfall I have uploaded some (243) pictures to my web server: LLTM 2009 Gallery Enjoy!

Haven't tried it myself yet, but I've read on several forums that you can use XP drivers in Windows 7. Don't know if it will work for the Cougar though, but it might be worth a try.

If you leave the disk in the drive, the disk-check will run each time you start LOFC. When you take it out, SF will only ask for the CD after 7 days.

It's been a while since I last posted here, but I haven't left the project! :) In fact, I've taken another step towards our working cockpit. I now have the K8055 USB interface kit from Velleman, which supports both digital and analog inputs and outputs. Today I received the kit and soldered it together, tomorrow I'll start with the software. When I'm done with this, I should have 5 working switches: - Gear up / down - Flaps up / down - Airbrake open / close - Left engine start / stop - Right engine start / stop I'm also planning to use the eight digital outputs to get some of the warning lights working, maybe even nav lights for the pit, linked to the in-game nav-lights :) The K8055 comes with a simple test program written in C#, which can be used to check the basic functionality of the assembled board. When I'm done with the software I'll post some more details and images.