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Please help me, I’m pretty sure I suck.


Digitalvole

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YouTube has loads of video tutorials on the different systems/weapons but I’m having a hard time finding anything that covers the more fundamental things that make a good Tomcat pilot.

I keep hearing the Tomcat is easy to fly but hard to fly well but I can’t seem to find anything that’ll teach me how to fly it well. 

Could anyone kindly point me in the direction of a good YouTube video/Book/Cave painting that explains how to be a better Tomcat pilot please? It would be very much appreciated by this nugget who keeps ending up back in the Hornet because it’s easier to fly.
 

 

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21 minutes ago, Digitalvole said:

I can’t seem to find anything that’ll teach me how to fly it well. 

 

This is an old video, but in a concise way teaches most of the flight quirks that the Tomcat has:

 

 

😞 man, I do miss Jabbers a lot .. glad that at least he kept his videos available.

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Once you have the basics Cold Start and landing etc down really recommend joining a squadron. 

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2 hours ago, Rudel_chw said:

 

This is an old video, but in a concise way teaches most of the flight quirks that the Tomcat has:

 

 

😞 man, I do miss Jabbers a lot .. glad that at least he kept his videos available.

Thanks Rudel_chw 👍

I have watched this, but will be sure to watch it again. Though I did read on here that Jabbers had got the rudder inputs the wrong way round when talking about adverse/proverse yaw. Ofc I’ve no idea if he has or not, he knows a metric butt tonne more than me, but it sowed the seed of doubt in my mind of which is the correct way.

Im finding it hard to verbalise what I’m looking for, helpful I know. Stuff like how to employ the aircraft in bvr engagements, (I’m guessing flying directly at the target and firing Aim 54s till someone goes boom isn’t what the Navy do.) good airmanship stuff, how to get the most out of the aircraft in general and in dogfights. That kind of stuff. 🙂 

If only Prez would continue his excellent Tomcat for Dummies videos.
 

17 minutes ago, Uxi said:

Once you have the basics Cold Start and landing etc down really recommend joining a squadron. 

Thanks for the suggestion Uxi, but it’s easier said than done it turns out. Had a crappy experience recently with a Sqdn that will remain nameless. 

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Do you own and fly any of the warbirds, that is WW2 era props? 

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2 hours ago, Digitalvole said:

Though I did read on here that Jabbers had got the rudder inputs the wrong way round when talking about adverse/proverse yaw.


Jabbers usually displays his controls overlay, so its pretty easy to check his inputs … he also has literally thousands of flight hours on the Tomcat and published dozens of videos viewed by thousands of virtual pilots … honestly, I trust his information a lot more than what a random dude might write at a Forum 🙂 

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Real operations and air combat basics/ airmanship are deeply under covered in Digital Cockpit Simulator. A proper system beyond the “press Spacebar” and hope it doesn’t crash to desktop would be nice, as a real pilot I can fly the plane fine but 4 YEARS in I still have no clue whatsoever when it comes to BFM, combat planning, etc. because the ai is terrible, squadrons are bafflingly hit or miss and mostly just air quake, and youtube is just marketing as feature training. 

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Yeah, that video is confusing to me, because in my experience when you are flying in the pattern at 15 units and apply aileron, the nose will slice INTO the direction of the roll, which would be proverse yaw.  This would make sense, and I've heard an F-14 pilot talking about how the spoilers extending on the roll direction wing would cause the plane to yaw in that direction (whereas a plane with ailerons would experience more drag on the wing with the down aileron, causing adverse yaw).

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Real operations and air combat basics/ airmanship are deeply under covered in Digital Cockpit Simulator. A proper system beyond the “press Spacebar” and hope it doesn’t crash to desktop would be nice, as a real pilot I can fly the plane fine but 4 YEARS in I still have no clue whatsoever when it comes to BFM, combat planning, etc. because the ai is terrible, squadrons are bafflingly hit or miss and mostly just air quake, and youtube is just marketing as feature training. 

The Air Warfare Group on YouTube has a series of BFM fundamentals I’ve found pretty useful. They do a good job of showing mistakes as well as successes so you can learn to recognize if you goofed and, when possible, how to recover.
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10 hours ago, captain_dalan said:

Do you own and fly any of the warbirds, that is WW2 era props? 

I own and have flown the Spitfire a fair amount, though I never really got my head around when and where to be using the rudder, (is that called coordinated flight?). Had I been sent up over the skies of southern England I doubt I would have come back, put it that way. 😉

9 hours ago, Rudel_chw said:


Jabbers usually displays his controls overlay, so its pretty easy to check his inputs … he also has literally thousands of flight hours on the Tomcat and published dozens of videos viewed by thousands of virtual pilots … honestly, I trust his information a lot more than what a random dude might write at a Forum 🙂 

I’d totally agree, but look two posts down from yours, the confusion returns! 😉

8 hours ago, RustBelt said:

Real operations and air combat basics/ airmanship are deeply under covered in Digital Cockpit Simulator. A proper system beyond the “press Spacebar” and hope it doesn’t crash to desktop would be nice, as a real pilot I can fly the plane fine but 4 YEARS in I still have no clue whatsoever when it comes to BFM, combat planning, etc. 

It’d be great if we got some tutorials on tactics/airmanship one day. Are there any purchase-able campaigns that cover that kind of thing?

53 minutes ago, r4y30n said:


The Air Warfare Group on YouTube has a series of BFM fundamentals I’ve found pretty useful. They do a good job of showing mistakes as well as successes so you can learn to recognize if you goofed and, when possible, how to recover.

Im going to check that out.

In other news, I was trying to do Case 1 last night, boy oh boy it’s so much harder than the Hornet. I just can’t get it on speed for love nor money. Interestingly if I don’t try to get it on speed I can land it, if I try and get the yellow doughnut I always hit the fan tail with explosive results. Are you supposed to have it trimmed on speed like the Hornet? I always that if you weren’t on speed you couldn’t catch a wire? I keep getting the three wire with the red chevron (too fast).

Thanks for the advice chaps. 

 

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Procedures are easy to follow thus you have detailed tutorials.

BFM/BVR otoh is not so simple to explain because it's not as easy as "if the enemy does that you do that" - it is very situational. There are tons of videos about that, there are plenty of forum threads and also real CNATRA docs if you want to dig in. So read, watch, practice and repeat. Don't expect a tutorial that turns you into an ace in an hour showing some magic tricks.

Yes, you can still trap a bit overspeed but you risk a bolter or hook damage.


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On 5/21/2022 at 9:07 AM, Digitalvole said:

It’d be great if we got some tutorials on tactics/airmanship one day. Are there any purchase-able campaigns that cover that kind of thing?

Zone 5 and Iron Flag (the latter for the Hog), there's also the upcoming Speed and Angels, which will cover more basic aspects. 

Keep in mind, BVR AI has changed completely in the current OB, with BFM AI to follow next month. If it works out, training against AI might become a much better idea.

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On 5/21/2022 at 2:09 AM, r4y30n said:


The Air Warfare Group on YouTube has a series of BFM fundamentals I’ve found pretty useful. They do a good job of showing mistakes as well as successes so you can learn to recognize if you goofed and, when possible, how to recover.

I can watch videos till the sun burns out. Guided hands on is really the only way to actually learn.

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That’s fair, some of us just don’t have the time or the will to coordinate with others online. I know it means I’ll only ever be a medium talent DCS pilot but I’m okay with it so long as I’m a step ahead of the AI.

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Practicing BFM against AI is IMO almost useless. The solution is to jump in a dogfight server or find a training partner(s) and host your own  missions to train extensive F-14's  1v1 fights. Keep in mind that when it comes to F-14 in DCS you have to set the training rules, regarding the limitations that has do be applied. There is a  world of difference fighting an -A   that's limited to (let's say) -7.5g (g limit of the E-M diagram) and flown without flaps and a -B flown with flaps and limited by  the over' g coded damage model (so you can merge with 10+ g's). When each pilot flies with different limits in his mind the fight will be unbalanced.  It's a game so you can do whatever you want (=training or combat style  BFM), but if you're  asking me, at some point (at the beginning) it would be useful  to learn the cat without all the  Snort ''tricks''  and then move your way up. 


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On 5/21/2022 at 9:07 AM, Digitalvole said:

I own and have flown the Spitfire a fair amount, though I never really got my head around when and where to be using the rudder, (is that called coordinated flight?).

 

Pretty much so, yeah. Keep her coordinated and she'll do wonders for you! 

On 5/23/2022 at 10:59 AM, jaguara5 said:

Practicing BFM against AI is IMO almost useless. 

 

Not that useless. It will teach him energy management, as the AI has infinite amounts of the same thing, and will help him create memory images of the different planforms depending on what the bandit is doing. 

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ED had stated a big BFM AI update is slated for the next OB, which will come out soon. That should improve the applicability of BFM training against AI. Whether is actually fixes the infinite energy issues remains to be seen, but if the BVR update is any indication, they'll get a lot less moronic.

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2 hours ago, Dragon1-1 said:

ED had stated a big BFM AI update is slated for the next OB, which will come out soon. That should improve the applicability of BFM training against AI. Whether is actually fixes the infinite energy issues remains to be seen, but if the BVR update is any indication, they'll get a lot less moronic.

Looking forward to this as well. Last night i had a chance to do some PVP ACM, but last night was exception. Most nights i don't have the time to do so, as SP is much more accessible. 

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OP, here is a video my last night's BFM session, PvP, one on one, F-14A VS a bunch of different planes. Hope you can take away at least something useful out of it:
 

 

Modules: FC3, Mirage 2000C, Harrier AV-8B NA, F-5, AJS-37 Viggen, F-14B, F-14A, Combined Arms, F/A-18C, F-16C, MiG-19P, F-86, MiG-15, FW-190A, Spitfire Mk IX, UH-1 Huey, Su-25, P-51PD, Caucasus map, Nevada map, Persian Gulf map, Marianas map, Syria Map, Super Carrier, Sinai map, Mosquito, P-51, AH-64 Apache

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13 hours ago, Spurts said:

That first fight... when the Eagle leveled off and left you in the dust, what a powerhouse of a plane that is.  Your patience saved the day.

Oh yeah, there is no racing or climbing with one, that's for sure. And that think was leaking all kinds of stuff when it extended from my previous shots. I hate to think what would have come about if it was undamaged. 

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On 6/5/2022 at 5:56 PM, captain_dalan said:

OP, here is a video my last night's BFM session, PvP, one on one, F-14A VS a bunch of different planes. Hope you can take away at least something useful out of it:
 

 

Thank you captain_dalan, that is very thoughtful of you and much appreciated. 👍

To be honest BFM and all that fancy stuff isn’t what I really meant, it’s more just basic flying skills that one needs to know when there’s not a computer secretly controlling your plane. I thought if I could learn to be a decent pilot first then I’ll try the dogfighting etc with a better idea of what one should and shouldn’t do.

For example the coordinated flight stuff or even how to fly straight and level (I’m used to relying on a HUD that gives an accurate horizon line). 

I suppose in a nutshell I’m trying to walk before I can run, but most of the tutorials in youtube are about the running and not so much the walking, I’m assuming military pilots don’t start with the cool “zoom zoom/boom boom” stuff till they’ve done a lot of the basic “this is how not to fly into the ground” stuff. Also I’m a mud mover at heart, I’m still not sure how I feel about all this air to air malarkey in any plane tbh, probably because I suck at it. Was hoping to use the Tomcat as a stand in for a Tornado and do low level bombing. 😁

regardless, thank you again for posting that video. I’ll deffo check it out.

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8 minutes ago, Digitalvole said:

For example the coordinated flight stuff or even how to fly straight and level (I’m used to relying on a HUD that gives an accurate horizon line). 

This is exactly what you ask for:

 

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On 6/9/2022 at 12:45 PM, Digitalvole said:

Thank you captain_dalan, that is very thoughtful of you and much appreciated. 👍

To be honest BFM and all that fancy stuff isn’t what I really meant, it’s more just basic flying skills that one needs to know when there’s not a computer secretly controlling your plane. I thought if I could learn to be a decent pilot first then I’ll try the dogfighting etc with a better idea of what one should and shouldn’t do.

For example the coordinated flight stuff or even how to fly straight and level (I’m used to relying on a HUD that gives an accurate horizon line). 

I suppose in a nutshell I’m trying to walk before I can run, but most of the tutorials in youtube are about the running and not so much the walking, I’m assuming military pilots don’t start with the cool “zoom zoom/boom boom” stuff till they’ve done a lot of the basic “this is how not to fly into the ground” stuff. Also I’m a mud mover at heart, I’m still not sure how I feel about all this air to air malarkey in any plane tbh, probably because I suck at it. Was hoping to use the Tomcat as a stand in for a Tornado and do low level bombing. 😁

regardless, thank you again for posting that video. I’ll deffo check it out.

My pleasure mate and yeah, i completely agree with you. Learn to crawl before you learn to walk. Hope you get her to obey! Cheers! 

Modules: FC3, Mirage 2000C, Harrier AV-8B NA, F-5, AJS-37 Viggen, F-14B, F-14A, Combined Arms, F/A-18C, F-16C, MiG-19P, F-86, MiG-15, FW-190A, Spitfire Mk IX, UH-1 Huey, Su-25, P-51PD, Caucasus map, Nevada map, Persian Gulf map, Marianas map, Syria Map, Super Carrier, Sinai map, Mosquito, P-51, AH-64 Apache

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