Some thoughts on how to grasp all of this...

[BBall]

Hey guys!

 

First of all, big props of course to DCS for this amazing flight sim! It's fun as hell, it's frustratingly hard (at times), but I think we can all agree, that it's very rewarding when you set the brakes in the chocks at the end of a long mission, take a deep breath, and just go....

 

..."cool".

 

Anyway, enough of that blathering. Each day we seem to have more new faces show up, and if you're at all new to the "study sim" genre, then the mere scope of what's in store to learn can seem to be overwhelming. Here are some thoughts...

 

(Just a note to introduce myself. I've been flying in R/L since '73 when I was a Junior in High School, turned "pro" in '79. Commuter airlines until '83, then hired by Northwest Orient Airlines as a Flight Engineer on the Boeing 727. Made the left seat in '94, and since the merger with Delta Airlines a few years ago, have been flying the 757/767 on mostly our overseas routes. Got my first computer in '95, and have been an avid flight simmer since then. I'm C/O of a LAN squadron in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area that we formed in '97, and we fly online regularly several nights a week.)

 

To illustrate my feelings on ONE WAY to approach this, let me reproduce two email responses that I mailed out to our LAN members after one wrote expressing his frustration with the mere scope of the training involved to learn this beast. Here they are:

 

------------------

 

"Kudos there XXXX for being so honest.

 

 

First of all, DO NOT hammer yourself for feeling a bit behind. In my business, we call it "being in row 10" (meaning, you should be mentally in the cockpit, but you're back in "Row 10"....clawing and dragging your way back toward the flight deck...not a good feeling).

 

 

Way back in ’94 when I went through the 727 Captain check out at NWA (an 8 week process), I was paired with another new Capt. type that was coming from being a B757 First Officer (I was a DC-10 F/O at the time). He was pretty overwhelmed with the training syllabus, and his fun meter was hovering out of the green arc. Granted, it was his first Captain check out (mine too... and back then, pretty much an "up or out" mindset within the company...plenty of pressure). He was used to his B757 "glass cockpit" which made S.A. a breeze, and now he was back in the world of “steam gauges” on the old 3-holer. He told me over a beer one night; he was convinced that he was going to wash out of the program. He eventually got up to speed, passed the program, and is now a senior Delta wide-body Captain (like yours truly).

 

 

My point is this....

 

 

Don't get frustrated. This guy was an ex-Navy, E-2 Hawkeye type, and he felt like a hemophiliac in a razor blade factory when he first started the training we were going through. He was "in row 10" at times, but he got patient, keep the nose to the grindstone, and “got er' dun”.

 

 

Remember, learning ANY new jet is first and foremost exactly like learning a new language. This one is no different:

 

 

- DMS, TMS, Coolie Hat, China Hat, TAD, TGP, SOI, SPI, MFCD….WTF?

 

 

One hint....

 

 

Every airline pilot I know does this on EVERY airplane checkout we go through. We take all of the visual aids (like cockpit layouts drawings, systems schematics, "flow patterns", etc) print them out (enlarge if needed), and hang them up on the wall in our "study area". NOTHING....and I mean nothing beats using these aids to "chair fly" things before you ever get in the jet (or in our case, in the simulator before we see the actual jet). I go as far as making notes on my visual aids.... Back in the "old days" (in the commuter airline...no simulators), we'd spend hours just sitting in a "dead" cockpit touching knobs and switches, doing flow patterns, and just getting comfortable in the seat.

 

 

 

Also, remember when I said that a sim like this requires almost constant flying, or you'll get rusty faster than Charlie Sheen jumping on a hooker. If you go more than just a few days, I'd suggest just flying in the closed pattern doing takeoffs and landings for 1/2 an hour or so before you go off trying to kill something.

 

 

I'll be on tomorrow night (after my movie date with the Mrs. BBall).

 

 

good luck,

 

 

B "HAWG" Ball"

 

 

---------------

and...

 

 

---------------

 

 

"And there, my good friend, lies the rub....

 

This ain't your Daddy's flight sim. But, trust me on this one, this thing is NOT above our capabilities. The only reason I kinda "get it" (or at least about 90%), is that I've gone through the same kind of training programs for over 30 years! It's a lot to be sure, but it's not rocket science.

 

 

You've heard me say it over and over since I started blathering on “the internets” about these things. I'll say it again...

 

 

"Learn to FLY the machine, then learn to FIGHT the machine."

 

 

And that's EXACTLY how the Air Force teaches the dudes (and chicks) that go through training on any new jet. I think it was in the book "Every Man A Tiger", where it details this stuff as it pertains to transitioning to the F-16 at Luke AFB in Phoenix.

 

 

 

If I were to draw up a syllabus for this baby, it would look something like this (realize, that in R/L, each pilot has to pass a "Phase Check" with a Check Airman, before he can go onto the next part of the training syllabus):

 

 

Part 1 Aircraft General:

1) Systems (classroom and CPT)

2) A/C start up and prep for flight

3) A/C taxi, take-off (to include aborts), and VFR landings

4) A/C engine failure post V1, single engine approach and landings VFR

5) General emergencies (gear/flap/flight control failures, engine fires, etc)

 

Part 2 Navigation and Autoflight:

1) ATC communications (Tactical comms in later lessons)

2) General navigation using GPS/INS

3) General navigation using TACAN and simple “pilotage” using TAD Map display.

4) ILS approaches

5) Autopilot modes and limitations

6) Mid- air re-fueling

 

Part 3 Basic Combat employment:

1) Cannon

2) Rockets

3) GP bombs using CCIP

4) CBU bombs using CCIP

 

Part 4 Advanced Combat Employment 1

1) Target Pod usage

2) GP bombs using CCRP

3) Guided bombs using CCRP

4) Maverick usage

5) Air to Air engagements (Aim 9 and Cannon)

 

Part 5 Advanced Combat Employment 2

1) Tactical communications to include

· Flight/Wingma

· AWACS

· JTACS

2) SAM/AAA Countermeasures and Tactics

 

Part 7 Flight Tactics

1) Wingman

2) Element

3) Flight

 

(I'm sure I left some sh#t out, but you get the idea...)

 

Remember....in R/L, you'd have to be certified "passed" by an experten before you could proceed to the next phase of training. That's the reason this crap takes friggin months in real life. These guys usually are allowed one "bust" on a Phase Check, then they have another check ride with the head of that flight training department. If they pass...then no problemo, keep the joyride going...if they bust that one...then "adios", back to flying rubber dog shit outta Hong Kong.

 

Tips:

 

 

- take copious notes. Yep...I still have my "gay" little books that I write all this shite down in. When someone axes a question on Ventrilo (or at a LAN), I'll guarantee that I’ll have my little green "DCS" notebook is open in the "A-10C" pages, either writing down the answer, or looking it up.

 

 

-Get really good at one thing before you on to the next. Be your own Check Airman.

 

 

- Be patient. Remember, the BY-GOD UNITED STATES AIR FORCE can't teach this without immersing someone (with a far younger brain than you and I have no less) in it for 6 months, day in, day out, with a professional instructor in the simulator (and in the airplane flying on the guy's wing). What makes you think you'll be able to learn it BY YOURSELF, without a wheel barrel full of patience?

 

You guys are barely able to WALK right now...and you're frustrated that you ain't running.

 

Don't worry, it'll come. If this were R/L...counting from "day 1" that this things been released, hell, we'd be lucky to be just getting to Phase 3!

 

BTW...what XXXX says is good advice. Enter your own "holding pattern" in a safe area, get all your ducks in a row, then assess the threat, make a plan and execute it. You don't have to be going with your hair on fire during all of this...SLOW DOWN. At the old Northwest Airlines, we used an acronym in the simulator when shit started to happen....

 

S.W.A.R.E.

 

S= slow down

W= weather (asses it...minimums, etc...not so much an issue here)

A= approach plan (again, N/A here)

R= run checklists (good here....set up cockpit...use a made up checklist if you need one)

E= execute plan

 

 

Good luck guys,

 

 

BB"

 

 

--------------------

 

So sports fans, that's about it.

 

Be patient, make a plan, realize that YOU WILL hit plateaus in your learning, and just take it one (baby) step at a time. Oh, and when you're in the closed pattern with an engine shut down or on a long RTB with holes in your jet (but more holes in the "bad guys"), take a moment to look out the canopy and enjoy the view...

 

...99% of all gamers will never see it.

 

Good luck all, and have fun!

 

BBall

[159th_Viper]

Ain't that the Truth!

 

Good write-up BB :thumbup:

[JHepburn]

Is this _the_ Capt BBall? If so, welcome back and welcome to the community!

[Teriander]

Awesome advice from an obvious professional! Thanks for the tips!

[BBall]

Is this _the_ Capt BBall? If so, welcome back and welcome to the community!

 

LMAO!

 

Don't really know how to take that? (fairly sure there's only one of me)

 

Haven't really been gone, since Mark's "Frugalsworld" went off the air, I've been doing precious little writing, and lots of flying (R/L and otherwise).

 

:thumbup:

 

BBall

[BBQ]

Great advice, Bball! It should be included in this thread:

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=72125

[JHepburn]

LMAO!

 

Don't really know how to take that? (fairly sure there's only one of me)

 

Haven't really been gone, since Mark's "Frugalsworld" went off the air, I've been doing precious little writing, and lots of flying (R/L and otherwise).

 

:thumbup:

 

BBall

 

LOL.

 

I'd enjoyed reading your posts, stories, and insights over the years at Frugals and occasionally over on Avsim. I hadn't seen your name in a long time, so I figured real-life had won :)

[jeffyd123]

Hmmmm... Looks like we better keep our eye on the "Ball" LOL.

 

Great advice from a wise and experienced aviator.

 

Welcome to the A-10..... and it is pretty awesome aint it. I marvel that its actually a computer program.

 

Jeff

[oritpro]

Fantastic write-up! This should be a sticky.

[grim31]

Dang, I had to read this a second time thinking I must have missed my name being mentioned. As much as I want to enjoy this eye candy, I can't fly every night because I'm always "hitting the wall". It took two days of flying the easy missions to realize that the holes in the wings was due to me dropping GBU's as such a low alltitude that I was causing more damage to my A/C than the supply trucks on the ground. I'll take this excellent advice to heart. Thanks, Grim31

[ErichVon]

Hey guys!

 

First of all, big props of course to DCS for this amazing flight sim! It's fun as hell, it's frustratingly hard (at times), but I think we can all agree, that it's very rewarding when you set the brakes in the chocks at the end of a long mission, take a deep breath, and just go....

 

..."cool".

 

Anyway, enough of that blathering. Each day we seem to have more new faces show up, and if you're at all new to the "study sim" genre, then the mere scope of what's in store to learn can seem to be overwhelming. Here are some thoughts...

 

(Just a note to introduce myself. I've been flying in R/L since '73 when I was a Junior in High School, turned "pro" in '79. Commuter airlines until '83, then hired by Northwest Orient Airlines as a Flight Engineer on the Boeing 727. Made the left seat in '94, and since the merger with Delta Airlines a few years ago, have been flying the 757/767 on mostly our overseas routes. Got my first computer in '95, and have been an avid flight simmer since then. I'm C/O of a LAN squadron in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area that we formed in '97, and we fly online regularly several nights a week.)

 

To illustrate my feelings on ONE WAY to approach this, let me reproduce two email responses that I mailed out to our LAN members after one wrote expressing his frustration with the mere scope of the training involved to learn this beast. Here they are:

 

------------------

 

"Kudos there XXXX for being so honest.

 

 

First of all, DO NOT hammer yourself for feeling a bit behind. In my business, we call it "being in row 10" (meaning, you should be mentally in the cockpit, but you're back in "Row 10"....clawing and dragging your way back toward the flight deck...not a good feeling).

 

 

Way back in ’94 when I went through the 727 Captain check out at NWA (an 8 week process), I was paired with another new Capt. type that was coming from being a B757 First Officer (I was a DC-10 F/O at the time). He was pretty overwhelmed with the training syllabus, and his fun meter was hovering out of the green arc. Granted, it was his first Captain check out (mine too... and back then, pretty much an "up or out" mindset within the company...plenty of pressure). He was used to his B757 "glass cockpit" which made S.A. a breeze, and now he was back in the world of “steam gauges” on the old 3-holer. He told me over a beer one night; he was convinced that he was going to wash out of the program. He eventually got up to speed, passed the program, and is now a senior Delta wide-body Captain (like yours truly).

 

 

My point is this....

 

 

Don't get frustrated. This guy was an ex-Navy, E-2 Hawkeye type, and he felt like a hemophiliac in a razor blade factory when he first started the training we were going through. He was "in row 10" at times, but he got patient, keep the nose to the grindstone, and “got er' dun”.

 

 

Remember, learning ANY new jet is first and foremost exactly like learning a new language. This one is no different:

 

 

- DMS, TMS, Coolie Hat, China Hat, TAD, TGP, SOI, SPI, MFCD….WTF?

 

 

One hint....

 

 

Every airline pilot I know does this on EVERY airplane checkout we go through. We take all of the visual aids (like cockpit layouts drawings, systems schematics, "flow patterns", etc) print them out (enlarge if needed), and hang them up on the wall in our "study area". NOTHING....and I mean nothing beats using these aids to "chair fly" things before you ever get in the jet (or in our case, in the simulator before we see the actual jet). I go as far as making notes on my visual aids.... Back in the "old days" (in the commuter airline...no simulators), we'd spend hours just sitting in a "dead" cockpit touching knobs and switches, doing flow patterns, and just getting comfortable in the seat.

 

 

 

Also, remember when I said that a sim like this requires almost constant flying, or you'll get rusty faster than Charlie Sheen jumping on a hooker. If you go more than just a few days, I'd suggest just flying in the closed pattern doing takeoffs and landings for 1/2 an hour or so before you go off trying to kill something.

 

 

I'll be on tomorrow night (after my movie date with the Mrs. BBall).

 

 

good luck,

 

 

B "HAWG" Ball"

 

 

---------------

and...

 

 

---------------

 

 

"And there, my good friend, lies the rub....

 

This ain't your Daddy's flight sim. But, trust me on this one, this thing is NOT above our capabilities. The only reason I kinda "get it" (or at least about 90%), is that I've gone through the same kind of training programs for over 30 years! It's a lot to be sure, but it's not rocket science.

 

 

You've heard me say it over and over since I started blathering on “the internets” about these things. I'll say it again...

 

 

"Learn to FLY the machine, then learn to FIGHT the machine."

 

 

And that's EXACTLY how the Air Force teaches the dudes (and chicks) that go through training on any new jet. I think it was in the book "Every Man A Tiger", where it details this stuff as it pertains to transitioning to the F-16 at Luke AFB in Phoenix.

 

 

 

If I were to draw up a syllabus for this baby, it would look something like this (realize, that in R/L, each pilot has to pass a "Phase Check" with a Check Airman, before he can go onto the next part of the training syllabus):

 

 

Part 1 Aircraft General:

1) Systems (classroom and CPT)

2) A/C start up and prep for flight

3) A/C taxi, take-off (to include aborts), and VFR landings

4) A/C engine failure post V1, single engine approach and landings VFR

5) General emergencies (gear/flap/flight control failures, engine fires, etc)

 

Part 2 Navigation and Autoflight:

1) ATC communications (Tactical comms in later lessons)

2) General navigation using GPS/INS

3) General navigation using TACAN and simple “pilotage” using TAD Map display.

4) ILS approaches

5) Autopilot modes and limitations

6) Mid- air re-fueling

 

Part 3 Basic Combat employment:

1) Cannon

2) Rockets

3) GP bombs using CCIP

4) CBU bombs using CCIP

 

Part 4 Advanced Combat Employment 1

1) Target Pod usage

2) GP bombs using CCRP

3) Guided bombs using CCRP

4) Maverick usage

5) Air to Air engagements (Aim 9 and Cannon)

 

Part 5 Advanced Combat Employment 2

1) Tactical communications to include

· Flight/Wingma

· AWACS

· JTACS

2) SAM/AAA Countermeasures and Tactics

 

Part 7 Flight Tactics

1) Wingman

2) Element

3) Flight

 

(I'm sure I left some sh#t out, but you get the idea...)

 

Remember....in R/L, you'd have to be certified "passed" by an experten before you could proceed to the next phase of training. That's the reason this crap takes friggin months in real life. These guys usually are allowed one "bust" on a Phase Check, then they have another check ride with the head of that flight training department. If they pass...then no problemo, keep the joyride going...if they bust that one...then "adios", back to flying rubber dog shit outta Hong Kong.

 

Tips:

 

 

- take copious notes. Yep...I still have my "gay" little books that I write all this shite down in. When someone axes a question on Ventrilo (or at a LAN), I'll guarantee that I’ll have my little green "DCS" notebook is open in the "A-10C" pages, either writing down the answer, or looking it up.

 

 

-Get really good at one thing before you on to the next. Be your own Check Airman.

 

 

- Be patient. Remember, the BY-GOD UNITED STATES AIR FORCE can't teach this without immersing someone (with a far younger brain than you and I have no less) in it for 6 months, day in, day out, with a professional instructor in the simulator (and in the airplane flying on the guy's wing). What makes you think you'll be able to learn it BY YOURSELF, without a wheel barrel full of patience?

 

You guys are barely able to WALK right now...and you're frustrated that you ain't running.

 

Don't worry, it'll come. If this were R/L...counting from "day 1" that this things been released, hell, we'd be lucky to be just getting to Phase 3!

 

BTW...what XXXX says is good advice. Enter your own "holding pattern" in a safe area, get all your ducks in a row, then assess the threat, make a plan and execute it. You don't have to be going with your hair on fire during all of this...SLOW DOWN. At the old Northwest Airlines, we used an acronym in the simulator when shit started to happen....

 

S.W.A.R.E.

 

S= slow down

W= weather (asses it...minimums, etc...not so much an issue here)

A= approach plan (again, N/A here)

R= run checklists (good here....set up cockpit...use a made up checklist if you need one)

E= execute plan

 

 

Good luck guys,

 

 

BB"

 

 

--------------------

 

So sports fans, that's about it.

 

Be patient, make a plan, realize that YOU WILL hit plateaus in your learning, and just take it one (baby) step at a time. Oh, and when you're in the closed pattern with an engine shut down or on a long RTB with holes in your jet (but more holes in the "bad guys"), take a moment to look out the canopy and enjoy the view...

 

...99% of all gamers will never see it.

 

Good luck all, and have fun!

 

BBall

 

My wife goes to fancy hotels on knitting parties. That is where she was today, for the day. We did a Cousin Brucie weekend to Mohonk Hotel for a few days back in March.

 

She has been trying to get me to learn how to knit. LOL! That will be the day...

 

I bet learning how to knit is easier than learning this sim!

 

Thomas Edison and Edgar Allen Poe knitted.

 

LOL

 

Maybe you guys can do a Gamers Weekend somewhere.

 

I miss the old days of the computer clubs.

 

I fly every day.

 

I like replaying the video tape.

 

I also spend some time learning FC.

 

A learning session for me can be to the point I can barely keep my eyes open to concentrate and fall asleep in my office chair for 4 hours!

 

I don't remember Microprose sims being this hard to learn, but that was about 20 years ago.

 

My Navy years, school was taught in all day phases, 7AM to 4:30 PM, break for lunch for an hour, 5 days a week. We learned one thing to focus on in 2 week sessions. Then exam. Pass, you move on. Fail, they recycled a guy back a month. Fail 2 or 3 times, they find something else for you to do. I really thought building timber bridges to support deuce and a halfs was pretty cool.

 

Heck with another plane, put me in a S-11 mobile SAM with all the bells and whistles.

 

I play full sim mode, set for hard and add a couple check-box cheats, sometimes. THE only way to learn.

 

Don't go knocking the cargo pilot guys, those guys can do some amazing stuff in country. Read Chuck Yeager's 1st book. That guy could fly anything.

 

Erich

:pilotfly:

Edited May 1, 2011 by ErichVon

[ErichVon]

Dang, I had to read this a second time thinking I must have missed my name being mentioned. As much as I want to enjoy this eye candy, I can't fly every night because I'm always "hitting the wall". It took two days of flying the easy missions to realize that the holes in the wings was due to me dropping GBU's as such a low alltitude that I was causing more damage to my A/C than the supply trucks on the ground. I'll take this excellent advice to heart. Thanks, Grim31

 

Yep!

 

Learned that in Aces High.

 

Also allow enough time for WWII ordinance to arm itself, do not drop too low.

 

Erich

[David A Sell]

Wow Fabulous read BBall! really enjoyed it. Hope to see you in the virtual skies soon.

[slowhand]

Great post worth +1

[bluepilot76]

Another great post Capt Ball!

 

Thanks for sharing such good advice again!

 

I also struggled most with the whole HOTAS thing, basically trying to get Mavs off. In the end I drew my own diagram of the hat switch functions and just looked at it, trying to find the logic behind the patterns, slowly it started to make sense and then in the aircraft it all suddenly came to me.

 

Having said that I do still sometimes tie myself in knots, about to RIFLE and suddenly my TGP is pointing to outer space or something. Good job there is not real ground troops relying on me!

Edited May 1, 2011 by bluepilot76
spelling

[Ells228]

Excellent read and advice buddy +1

[Fishbot]

Great read!

[Laminator]

Very interesting read! Thx for sharing your thoughts BBall.

[BBall]

 

Maybe you guys can do a Gamers Weekend somewhere.

 

I miss the old days of the computer clubs.

 

I fly every day.

 

 

Agreed on the “Gamers Weekend” my friend. We actually do a few LANs every year, and our next one is scheduled to be in November in Minneapolis….EVERYONE is invited! I guess we’re what us old time gamers would call a computer club. I too fly every day…either in the actual skies or virtual….

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't remember Microprose sims being this hard to learn, but that was about 20 years ago.

 

 

Not sure they ever WERE this hard. :)

 

 

My Navy years, school was taught in all day phases, 7AM to 4:30 PM, break for lunch for an hour, 5 days a week. We learned one thing to focus on in 2 week sessions. Then exam. Pass, you move on. Fail, they recycled a guy back a month. Fail 2 or 3 times, they find something else for you to do. I really thought building timber bridges to support deuce and a halfs was pretty cool.

 

LMAO!

 

I play full sim mode, set for hard and add a couple check-box cheats, sometimes. THE only way to learn.

 

AGREED!

 

Don't go knocking the cargo pilot guys, those guys can do some amazing stuff in country.

 

Agreed #2...I would never do that.

 

I remember WAAAY back when I was a lowly F/E (Flight Engineer or as we called it..a “Second Officer”) on the Boeing 747, circa 1986. We were leaving Taipei in a freighter version of that magnificent jet, and I wandered downstairs to see what we were hauling. Thousands of “Rawlings” baseball gloves…..I could not help but recall the “dogshit out of Hong Kong” remark in the movie “Top Gun”. I laughed till I almost cried….

 

 

Have a great day all,

 

BBall