Wow you lose carrier skills quick.

[Cowboy10uk]

Well due to work commitments, I’ve not been able to fly for around 4 weeks. Managed to jump back on here, so thought I would do a few landings on the carrier to blow off the cobwebs. After 2 hrs I had achieved NOT ONE successful landing. :doh:

 

I knew I would be rusty but damn I wasn’t expecting to lose all my skills. I had gotten to the point where I was landing pretty consistently. Just shows how often you need to practice those landings.

 

Ahh well back to the drawing board and try try again.

 

Well it’s either a rusty, or just a completely rubbish pilot. :dunno::dunno:

[Gierasimov]

I have been watching Wags' carrier landing and also watched Lex two videos about carrier ops.

Prior to my very first attempt of trapping in Hornet, I was doing a lot of shore-based landings just to get my pattern, On-speed AOA and flying skills.

 

I guess it paid off. The very first try and I trapped 3 wire.

 

This event alone was very encouraging so I kept the pace.

I was doing only that once every day in September, every other day in October and three times a week in November 2018, then I had to take a pause and came back to DCS this month.

 

I am happy to report that my skills are just where I left them.

 

Surely my pattern is something to work on, but traps are no problem whatsoever. Over that time I did get several bolters, a couple of wave-offs, but never crashed or went into the drink.

 

I met all the wires too, not only "3". :)

 

Practice practice practice.

[Nealius]

It's even harder when the flight model has been tweaked in the period that you aren't flying. It's currently more difficult than it ever has been since release.

[Harlikwin]

Hm... I think landing in DCS in general is way too easy with 1 exception which I think is more "real"...

[Creature_1stVFW]

Trapping AND refueling are perishable skills. I do both at least once a day. 5 traps and 5 basket hook ups using Banklers CASE I.

[Wizard1393]

Hey Cowboy, you remembered to put your hook down right? :music_whistling::megalol:

[StandingCow]

Agreed, the other weird thing is how natural a landing can come to in in some cases... then other times just like a real pilot you can be "in the barrel" and just can't seem to put it down without a lot of effort.

[Habu_69]

IRL combat jet pilots need a minimum of 25 flight hours per month to maintain proficiency. Due to budget issues actual flight hour availability frequently falls short.

[CBStu]

As a way to get back in, maybe do the Case 1 quick action but do it straight in rather than a pattern.

[Guzzo]

Same for AAR :-(

[Mule]

Yep, same here. I do try and keep up with AAR and can nail that every time now, however I did neglect carrier landings and regret it but it's a lot of fun getting back in the groove so to speak ....eh....um!

[SonofEil]

The order in which which I lose my mad skillz is

1) The pattern. Couple of days without flying it and I get messy.

2) Full cold starts. (Mostly relevant to the more involved startups like Ka-50 or P-51.) A week without one and I’m struggling.

3) Weapons procedures. Related to #2

4) AAR. Much less of a issue since going VR, but I used to lose it in about a week.

5) Traps. They’ve honestly never been a problem for me, I can consistently catch a 2 or 3 wire without issue. The occasional bolter if I’m tired but I don’t think I’ve ever wrecked on or into the carrier.

[ApoNOOB]

Not been able to fly that much in the last few weeks and I have this weird experience, that my skills are degrading instead of improving everytime I fly! :3