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Am I crazy? Is the A-10C learning curve too steep for first plane?


Burgo38

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You sound like you really want to learn how to fly, so I agree with others in that you're fine to start with the A-10C, even if it's overwhelming.

 

I would actually advise against learning on FC3 aircraft. In fact, don't fly FC3 ever. That's my radical opinion.

The beauty of DCS is that you can learn an aircraft and it's systems as they are in real life (or at least extremely close to).

 

I'd recommend learning on an aircraft with no HUD, so that you get in the habit of relying on the analog gauges from the start. The L-39 is perfect for this, and it's a trainer, so it's quite appropriate. I think that's important, as you seem to have very little experience in aircraft controls and need to get the hang of the fundamentals.

Once you have that mastered, the A-10C will be a breeze to fly.

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Thanks everyone for your advice and encouragement. After plenty of reading today I jumped into the training missions and eventually managed to successfully land the beast (with step-by-step instructions). I can now see how rewarding it will be to slowly master this bird, step by step. I'm going to persevere and stick with the A-10C, even though I did buy the FC3 module.

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Be sure to bookmark

YouTube channel, This Will help you out a great deal on your journey. Have Fun!

 

Chuck simplified manual for the A-10C HERE

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Chuck's DCS Tutorial Library

Download PDF Tutorial guides to help get up to speed with aircraft quickly and also great for taking a good look at the aircraft available for DCS before purchasing. Link

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This is not a post to gloat or anything, it's just a post from my perspective.

 

I started my DCS career about a month ago or so (already had the TrackIR for use with ArmA3) by going kinda all in. Bought the A-10C, a TMW (and a pair of VKB T-rudders Mk.IV that arrived two weeks later) and just jumped right in there in an instant mission.

I had only watched a few videos online on how to do things prior to getting into the cockpit and to be very frank I was able to jump in, do a shaky gun run and after some work landed a GBU-38 and a maverick on what I was looking at in the TGP and then land the thing on the first try. I've still not botched a single landing when I got good controls and fairly good weather (VFR more or less) and that was even when using the TMW without any pedals (using Q/E for rudder when you want both hands on stick/throttle during final is no fun :P).

Of course I've crashed a few times but that was when missing part of a wing or something quite a bit more drastic like a completely no-vis landings etc.

Granted, I have quite the amount of hours (1700-ish) in ArmA3 that might've helped to at least get a very rudimentary feeling for sensitive maneuvering etc etc.

 

The A-10C is quite easy to fly and to easy to learn the basic things in.

The real beauty (imo) is that there is bunch of different systems that you can do all kinds of fun things in and spend a long time in to master if you are willing to. There are however very good spot-tutorials on youtube that you can watch one by one that summarizes the FM very nicely in fewer words. I've never even read the FM, I've learned only by youtube and the ingame tutorial that I ran like a week after I started flying and testing on my own and I'm after about two weeks very comfortable to comfortable creating my own flightplan in the CDU, datalinking, multiple markpoint bomb/AGM-runs, triangulating SAM rough location with the help of RWR etc.

 

Just make sure to give yourself space and time for the different setups, don't force yourself off the ground before you have a very clear idea what you purpose of being in the air is .. or try to panic a few mark points and turning in really fast to defeat whatever is there. Set everything up properly, breath and give it a proper try. If it feels very slow and you basically just have to sit and wait for your mark, runway or whatever ... you're doing things correctly in my book :)

 

My point is: there's alot of GREAT help out there and the A-10C really lets you do what you want if you'll only let it!

 

Then enter a PvP-server and prepare to cry for a few hours .... but that's part 2 of the story! :D

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I'll narrow that question down for obvious reasons. I have no flight experience IRL & very little in sims, but I am committed to putting in the time required to learn this properly. My question for you experienced pilots is; am I being too ambitious by starting with the A-10C? Hardware wise I have a CV1 & Warthog HOTAS so I'd like to get started on this plane but the learning curve is STEEP! For example, I did the landing training mission last night and couldn't even find the runway! Should I start with an easier plane or just dive right in? I note there are plenty of beginner resources on this forum to guide me and I will read that 600+ page manual (yawn).

 

No. You are not over your head.

 

The A-10C is really easy to learn and get you to blowing stuff up when you start in the air or from the hot.

 

The thing becomes more complex once you need to start up and shut down the aircraft.

 

Then becomes the more challenging to master when you need to start using different radios and such to communicate with different JTAC units etc.

 

But otherwise you really get very easily to use Maveriks, drop all kind bombs, use TGP and TAD etc.

 

The military aircrafts are eventually designed to be used in high-stress environments and even pilots use check-lists and so on. So once you go through the process in manual or check the few youtube tutorials, you can master the most common situations just fine.

 

With the A-10C the most challenging part really is to have enough buttons in HOTAS to bind the the required switches. And then to learn when to do long or short push to forward or backward. But once you learn that HOTAS thing, it is simple.

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With the A-10C the most challenging part really is to have enough buttons in HOTAS to bind the the required switches. And then to learn when to do long or short push to forward or backward. But once you learn that HOTAS thing, it is simple.

 

Shouldn't be a problem at all since he has the TM Warthog :thumbup:

PC Specs / Hardware: MSI z370 Gaming Plus Mainboard, Intel 8700k @ 5GHz, MSI Sea Hawk 2080 Ti @ 2100MHz, 32GB 3200 MHz DDR4 RAM

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Controllers / Peripherals: VPC MongoosT-50, Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS, modded MS FFB2/CH Combatstick, MFG Crosswind Pedals, Gametrix JetSeat

OS: Windows 10 Home Creator's Update

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I remember stumbling on the A10-C on steam, What wowed me was the fully clickable pit, I could never start the damn thing and nearly gave up on it but a bit of persistence i ran through the training missions over and over, And even after the start up i could take off but could never land, Just keep at it.

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Yeah, OP get yourself on an MP server with TeamSpeak. We fly on the AEF 161 servers in Australia. I learned a TON from the guys there in a very short space of time. You'll always learn faster from other people, tutorials are great but you can't ask questions... :-)

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I bought the A-10C on a Steam sale and had no flight sim experience other than Rise of Flight. Just keep on reading! :book:

Having a HOTAS is a huge help because you've got the real controls so at least that part isn't harder than the real thing.


Edited by SharpeXB

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No:pilotfly: Flight Time Means no bad:joystick: Flying habits:lol::music_whistling:stay at it ! It will be worth it:thumbup:

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You don't have to turn on all the fancy screens and switches... Just do the basics to get it up and running and you can do laps around the traffic pattern no problem. Your motivation is the most important driving force in flight training. No sense learning to fly an aircraft you don't enjoy (especially when there's no consequences for the occasional crash)!

 

There's an additional benefit to learning the most complicated aircraft first... all the others are so much easier :)


Edited by randomTOTEN
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The A10 isn't difficult to fly. The learning curve comes from the high level of detail in the system's simulation. Basic flight however is pretty easy, much easier than, say, a 737 model in Prepar3D for example.

 

Where it becomes tricky is learning to fight. This will require you learn at least the basics of the systems and weapons. The hardest part, I found, was remembering all the key commands, particularly for the HOTAS functions.

 

That said, I had thousands of hours of flight sim experience, but virtually zero combat experience. I started in the Su-25T and while it has simpler systems and simpler weapons it was much, much harder to learn to fight in. Only being able to target things directly in front of you on a crappy low-light TV camera and only really having about 6nm range meant I got shot down almost 100% of the time. The A10 provides you the ability to scope out a target area from 15-20 miles away. To orbit at 10,000ft for half an hour picking targets and then run in, launch mavericks at 5-7nm or drop JDAMs from 14,000ft is much easier.

 

The two biggest game changers for me and the A10 were getting the Worthog HOTAS and TrackIR. Made it a completely different ball game. Much more immersed and to a great degree easier.

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I think you jump right in! The only flight experience I have is a bunch of research I did as a kid and teaching myself on Flight Simulator 3. I got the A-10C first and while it is a lot to learn I think it is probably the most fulfilling to learn. It took me a long time and I'm still nowhere near an expert but especially if you already have the HOTAS you'll have a lot of fun. As people mentioned there are a lot of resources to help and if you're willing to put in the time you'll be rewarded.

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I made a thread about it. It is linked in my signature. A10c would be a nice plane to learn to fly a simulator on. Worry about the weapon systems after you learn to fly the plane. I actually learned how to fly sims on IL2 CLOD in a BF109. THAT was hard. Learning all there was about prop pitch and what the plane can and can't do. I think the A10c is the easiest to fly. Very forgiving.

 

Learn to be a pilot first then learn to take it into combat. Baby steps. One training mission at a time. Take good notes to reference later. Read my thread. It should help.

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Quick update, a week into my training on the A10C and I'm really glad I followed the majority of advice here and stuck with it. It's still a steep learning curve but that makes it all the more rewarding. I am now half way through the basic flight training campaign and doing things I wouldn't have thought possible a week ago like landing with an engine down, flying an approach pattern to strict margins and landing etc. On day one I almost quit because I couldn't even get the thing started! So glad I persevered. Thanks to everyone for the advice.

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And do check out Bunyap's On the range series on Youtube. About 15-30 min each and it's HIGHLY recommended.

hsb

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Within context of DCS. A-10C is easy to fly, and easy to land.A little more practice is required for instrument ILS approach and landing. I find inFlight refueling is quite difficult, I have hard time stabilizing the aircraft with respect to refueling boom. The most technically demanding task is managing targeting pod and CDU, with weapons employment. But it is learnable.

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Having an x52 instead of the warthog stick made mapping, learning and remembering the hotas controls the most difficult part of learning the A-10C for me.

 

The nice thing about going through that process though is that I've slowly been mapping the same control structure over to the rest of my aircraft modules so it's easier for me to jump in any pit and fly without having to re-learn everything.

 

It also seems like there's ALWAYS something more to learn and since the A-10C's backed by the largest amount of single player campaigns there's no shortage of unique scenario's that force you to learn new things.

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Hi there Burgo 38

I have been a DCS faithful tragic for a few years now and never really gone all out into the total avionics and systems learning curve of the different aircrafts. I just had fun plodding along in my SU 27 and a few others flying the simpler missions and campaigns available. I've had a blast though, especially when I actually finished the Ultimate Argument campaign last year. Well I thought to myself I would like to try something a little more advanced with more depth so I looked at the A-10C Warthog and after a few training missions and tutorials ( which I'm still doing now actually ) I'm absolutely hooked! This aircraft is just awesome man! I'm so blown away by its sheer grunt and handling and just the feel of the thing, and most of the cockpit layout is pretty much self explanatory, it's truly a beauty! Well I was so impressed I went all out and just a few days ago bought myself a Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog Throttle and Stick replica set up, now I'm totally gone!! I reckon this was the best $600AU I've ever spent. Like a few folks here have said, yes there is a lot to learn but it's already rewarding me and the DCS Training missions are very good. I've just finished slaving and reconfiguring commands on some of the buttons and switches for both the throttle and stick but most were there already in the DCS controls menu and I must say this piece of equipment is state of the art and for once wasn't made in China or Malaysia ( no offence intended ). It's actually made in France and the sheer weight of it and quality makes it a pleasure to use. So I would say, stick with the A-10C Warthog, it's a beautiful beast and for me it's starting to prove itself to be an enjoyable and amazing aircraft and is only going to get better the more I learn and fly with my new controls.

Peace out, Gary

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Hi there Burgo 38

I have been a DCS faithful tragic for a few years now and never really gone all out into the total avionics and systems learning curve of the different aircrafts. I just had fun plodding along in my SU 27 and a few others flying the simpler missions and campaigns available. I've had a blast though, especially when I actually finished the Ultimate Argument campaign last year. Well I thought to myself I would like to try something a little more advanced with more depth so I looked at the A-10C Warthog and after a few training missions and tutorials ( which I'm still doing now actually ) I'm absolutely hooked! This aircraft is just awesome man! I'm so blown away by its sheer grunt and handling and just the feel of the thing, and most of the cockpit layout is pretty much self explanatory, it's truly a beauty! Well I was so impressed I went all out and just a few days ago bought myself a Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog Throttle and Stick replica set up, now I'm totally gone!! I reckon this was the best $600AU I've ever spent. Like a few folks here have said, yes there is a lot to learn but it's already rewarding me and the DCS Training missions are very good. I've just finished slaving and reconfiguring commands on some of the buttons and switches for both the throttle and stick but most were there already in the DCS controls menu and I must say this piece of equipment is state of the art and for once wasn't made in China or Malaysia ( no offence intended ). It's actually made in France and the sheer weight of it and quality makes it a pleasure to use. So I would say, stick with the A-10C Warthog, it's a beautiful beast and for me it's starting to prove itself to be an enjoyable and amazing aircraft and is only going to get better the more I learn and fly with my new controls.

Peace out, Gary

 

The Warthog HOTAS is a true masterpiece.

 

On the outside.

 

The inside is worse than China quality, so go easy on the stick and throttle and maybe you will get a few years before you will have to open it up and see for yourself.

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I find myself often wishing that the other modules had some of the things the A10C has, especially when it comes to setting up nav and flight plans on the fly. Powerful piece of equipment in terms of flexibility of the systems. Most of the other birds feel like a step back after learning the A10C.

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