Price of Entry

[Raisuli]

I've got a lot of campaigns for DCS.  Lots.  Never flew any of them because I was dumb and actually read the introductions, but decided to try again.

F-5E, BFM (one of the first I bought, about five years ago).  Easy mode.  Familiarization Flight.  The next twenty pages are full of routes and navigation points and stuff I only vaguely know about, because I'm not actually a pilot and don't do this stuff for real.

Do I really need to spend the next year and a half reading my Rod MacHado and Clausing's 'Aviator's Guide to Navigation' to even start these campaigns?  Maybe finally go get the pilot's license I decided not to finish twenty years ago so I know how arrival and departure plans work?  Holy crap!  I get this is realistic, but I'm not even sure where to start on this stuff! 

 

[MAXsenna]

If you download the manual(s) for that other Viper sim, they explain charts and stuff and why/how to use them.

Cheers!

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

[Sabre-TLA]

You can also use the in game kneeboard map (k) which shows the flight route as well. 

The F-5E is an older bird so it doesn't have HUD navigation like the more modern fighters (F-15C, F-16C, FA-18C). 

You need to fly TACAN nav or dead reckoning.  Once you fly the route once it's easy to see the key landmarks and much easier to fly future missions.

Just the first flight can be challenging if you haven't done it before.

[Raisuli]

I've been learning about departure plates and routes and all that.  For all its faults the internet is the sum total of human learning; if there's something you can't figure out it's not for lack of opportunity!  Heck, I take classes from MIT just because I can and it's pretty cool (MITx/OpenCourseware).

This isn't a problem that can't be solved, it's just an unexpected prerequisite!  I've already decided to work on departures this afternoon rather than getting shot in the face by Private York on that Zu-23 while I practice rocket attacks.