[NEED TRACK REPLAY]Airplane in Formation Flying Faster than the Set Speed in the ME

[Shahriar0]

Hi,

 

I have noticed that in my old saved missions where I had a bunch of airplanes flying straight and level together (same altitude/speed) without any issues, now all of a sudden one the planes (and it's always the same plane in that particular mission), it starts to pull ahead and no longer fly at the set speed in the ME! I have double checked all settings and cannot find the reason why this happens. Because this used to work in earlier versions (months ago but can't be more specific), then there must be something happening in the ME. Has anyone noticed this?

 

Thanks.

[Shahriar0]

This maybe a function of module rather than ME itself. In one example, I have F4 (Mod), F-5E, F-14B, and MIG-29A AIs flying in a line formation (I am in a chase plane), and with all planes set at 10,000ft/400Kts, I see the F-14 immediately light the afterburner and pulls forward. When I change all the speeds to 500Kts, I see the F-14 first deploys the air brake and then hits the throttle. At 350, they are all over the place. In another saved mission, it is the F-86 that pulls forward from the rest of the formation!

 

I can't seem to find the culprit but the issue is definitely there.

[BIGNEWY]

Hi

 

I would need to see a track replay however not with any unofficial mod included as it will not work on our internal builds.

 

thanks

[Shahriar0]

Hi,

 

I thought it would be better to do something more comprehensive. I have some data to share to prove my point.

 

I setup a very simple mission with two airplanes, An Expert AI in the lead flying at 10,000ft and 400Kts, and myself, in an F-14B chase plane (the reason I chose the F-14 was that I could easily read the True Air Speed in the HSA. I also chose the 400Kts, because it was sufficiently above the stall speed of the test planes.)

 

In my test, I flew in close formation with the AI plane, and once it was stable in relative speed, I paused the sim and read the TAS. Below are the numbers (all in Kts):

 

A-10C (400), A-50 (400), AJS37 (300), AV-8B (400), F-14B (430), F-16C (430), F-4E (500), F-5E-3 (350), F-86F (460), F-18C (350), HAWK (450), JF-17 (430), M2000 (490), MIG-21BIS (430), MIG-29A (430).

 

So the implication is obvious, if identical planes are used to set up a formation AI flights, then they all would fly the same speed, and therefore keep the formation; but the AI planes are dissimilar, then they would not keep formation, hence the problem.

 

Also, as you can see, some the speeds are less than the 400Kts. Therefore, a more accurate description of the problem would be, "AI planes fly at different speeds than the one set in the ME."

 

Thanks.

[Shahriar0]

+1

[Rudel_chw]

+1

 

 

You were asked for a track replay ... the developers need to reproduce the issue and for that your description is not enough.

[Shahriar0]

Let me close this issue and explain what was happening using a simplified example (no replay track needed):

 

Create a new mission, put an F-5E on the map and create a waypoint to set a heading. Set altitude/speed for 10,000 ft/350Knots.

 

Click on the plane, Copy and Paste it.

 

Click on the second plane and select F-14. Mission editor would automatically selects 430 knots for it.

 

What I used to do before was to ONLY click on the second plane and set the altitude/speed. What I did NOT do was to select waypoint 1 and separately do the same thing for that route as well. As a result, ME was still using the previously set speed of 430Knots to get to waypoint 1. I should have paid more attention and looked at the Summary section which showed the Average Speed for the route as 430Knots.

 

Now, this is open for discussion that why does ME pick a different speed for a plane when that speed is not too slow or too fast. Also, when altitude/speed is set for an airplane, in my opinion, it should be set at least to waypoint 1 as well if not beyond. That's what I thought was the behavior.

 

Thanks.