Preparation

[Plex]

Hello! I'm new here and I plan on purchasing the A-10C Warthog. As a complete newbie who knows absolutely nothing about flying, how long would it usually take to learn the controls and the basics?

 

As far as that goes, I'm also a freshmen undergraduate in the US AFROTC program. During our junior years, we can sign up for flight training. Hopefully if I do qualify, I was wondering how big of a factor will this simulation contribute? Will it cover most of the controls that I can expect to see? Or how real does this get compared to real life combat?

[emtguf]

If you do the tutorials, and watch some tutorial videos on Youtube you can get up and running fairly quickly. Search my name on youtube I've done several vids form startups to weapon deployment.

Also if you have a question as in the forums always someone willing to help out.

 

All in all it is not the most simple sims to learn but with some practice it is well worth it!

[bradleyjs]

This is a great sim to learn about combat, weapons, and tactics. And it's very advanced - far the best out there at this time.

 

However, for general aviation training before you start flying single engine aircraft, I recommend getting Flight Simuator X - you'll learn more from that sim to prepare you for that realm of flight.

 

GL on getting your future wings!

[NullSpace]

However, for general aviation training before you start flying single engine aircraft, I recommend getting Flight Simuator X - you'll learn more from that sim to prepare you for that realm of flight.

 

GL on getting your future wings!

 

First off, agreed that FSX is a great general-purpose sim, if you're looking for something you can mess around in to fly all sorts of different planes, especially GA and civil aviation, I'd highly recommend it, spent years flying that one.

 

Where I'd respectfully disagree is that you need to get it in order to learn to fly DCS A-10C. The A-10 is actually a relatively easy bird to fly. Not to say that it's easy to fly in combat, etc, but just doing takeoffs and landings and etc, it's pretty stable and simple. I would say that if you're really only interested in military sims, and have no interest in getting something like FSX for general aviation, you can probably do fine just learning to fly in the A-10.

 

Again, FSX is awesome and a great way to learn to fly simulators, but I dunno if it would be a good idea to purchase a sim like that JUST so that you can learn basic flight.

[Plex]

Thanks for the replies! I'll look into the Flight Simulator X. As for the A-10C, how much of a difference are the controls compared to other jet aircrafts? Are there minor differences? Or vast amounts of differences?

Edited December 31, 2012 by Plex

[bradleyjs]

I agree that the A-10C is an easy plane to fly and learn TO/Landings; Hell I do it all the time just for fun.

 

FSX is also good to learn IFR by using the various Navaids and such too. Much more realistic for someone to rent a Cessna/Piper vs an A-10C in "Preparation"

 

Not arguing here - just making a basic point.

[NullSpace]

As for the A-10C, how much of a difference are the controls compared to other jet aircrafts? Are there minor differences? Or vast amounts of differences?

 

Depends what you mean by controls, direct flight controls, or are you including things like navigation and such as controls?

 

FSX is also good to learn IFR by using the various Navaids and such too. Much more realistic for someone to rent a Cessna/Piper vs an A-10C in "Preparation"

 

Not arguing here - just making a basic point.

 

Agreed for sure man! Flying IFR in FSX is great, especially since the ATC is (while FAR from perfect) is a lot more full featured than the basic airfield ATC you get in DCS.

[bradleyjs]

Yeah - I loved it when ATC was implemented - makes it far more realistic - I'm a licensed pilot (have been since the mid 80's)

[bradleyjs]

Oh, forgot to mention to everyone - Happy New Year!!!

[NullSpace]

...During our junior years, we can sign up for flight training. Hopefully if I do qualify, I was wondering how big of a factor will this simulation contribute? Will it cover most of the controls that I can expect to see? Or how real does this get compared to real life combat?

 

Info from a friend of mine, who's a certified flight instructor (Civil, not Military). Basically, in real life, you have the element of physically feeling the acceleration and movement of the aircraft as you are controlling it, which is a huge element for flight. He's told me that he likes sims for learning the systems and procedures, but the actual act of controlling the aircraft has a bit less carry-over than you might think.

 

Again though, I'm not an actual pilot, just a simmer, so this is all second hand.

[Madone]

Info from a friend of mine, who's a certified flight instructor (Civil, not Military). Basically, in real life, you have the element of physically feeling the acceleration and movement of the aircraft as you are controlling it, which is a huge element for flight. He's told me that he likes sims for learning the systems and procedures, but the actual act of controlling the aircraft has a bit less carry-over than you might think.

 

Again though, I'm not an actual pilot, just a simmer, so this is all second hand.

 

Yes, mostly in the flight school (military), when you go into the simulator, that's only to learn emergency procedures. You will never feel the "depth" in a sim, or feel the air flow that makes the aircraft flying, but you can learn all the theory and stick it into your memory to apply it IRL why not?!

 

Beginners are too much worried about, as I was, but it took me only one month to be used to that bird and to have fun. If you're motivated, you will do it. No need to be a crazy aviation fanboy. No worries.

[Yurgon]

Thanks for the replies! I'll look into the Flight Simulator X. As for the A-10C, how much of a difference are the controls compared to other jet aircrafts? Are there minor differences? Or vast amounts of differences?

 

Another sim pilot with no RL experience here, but I've flown the F-16C in various incarnations of Falcon 4.0 as well as the DCS Ka-50 and A-10C (plus a few other aircraft games and sims).

 

I think you'll find that a lot of the instruments in the A-10C are not at all specific to the aircraft, they'll work exactly the same in other aircraft. In that regard, there are actually a lot of similarities between civil and military aviation, there are lots of similarities between rotary wing and fixed wing aircraft, and there are also a lot of similarities between eastern (as in: Russian) and western (as in: US) aircraft.

 

ADI, HSI, altimeter, vertical velocity indicator and so on are pretty much universal instruments. Once you know their meaning, their limitations and how they interact, it should help you fly just about any other aircraft on the planet.

 

Getting to know different aircraft is a lot like getting to know different cars. Instruments may be placed differently, some things work differently, but all in all there's a gas pedal, a brake, a steering wheel and some type of gear selector. Things are just a bit more complex in aircraft. :-)

 

When I started with A-10C, I flew a couple of quick missions to get the controllers set up and I did a few tests of the aircraft's maneuverability. After a couple of training and ground handling missions, I was quite happy that I was able to land at the very first attempt. I'm mostly sticking to the lessons learned 10 years ago in Falcon 4.0. Even though the F-16 and the A-10 could hardly be more different in their flight characteristics, the same basic rules apply.

 

To sum things up, my personal experience is that the more varied my simulated aircraft are, the deeper my understanding of flight becomes. From that perspective, you should jump into the A-10C right away and just enjoy the level of detail you'll find there.

 

Addendum regarding the controls:

 

There are lots of different input control layouts.

 

To name just up a few: the A-10 (as well as the F/A-18) features a center stick that is mounted between the pilot's legs. The F-16 has a side-stick that is force-sensing - the stick hardly moves, instead it detects the amount of pressure applied by the pilot.

 

A-10 and F/A-18 have a split-throttle so that both engines can be controlled separately. The F-16 only has one engine and thus only one throttle. The French Rafale, as I just learned a few days ago, is a dual-engine aircraft but only has one throttle.

 

Boeing airliners have a yoke while Airbus aircraft have side-sticks. The latter means that pilots sitting on the left hand side of the cockpit use the stick mounted on the left with their left hand, no matter whether they're usually right handed (then again, there's no left-handed layout for A-10, F/A-18 and F-16).

 

In said airliners, the throttles are located between the two pilots. The pilot on the left seat controls them with the right hand while the pilot on the right seat controls them with the left hand.

 

And helicopters... well, that's yet another story, let's leave that aside for now.

 

The important thing is, while there are very different cockpit layouts, some things remain the same, like: Stick (or yoke) forward means nose down, throttle(s) back means less engine power and so on. Knowing the basics is always the necessary foundation to build upon. And the A-10 is fairly simple to fly, so it's a very good choice to start with.

Edited January 1, 2013 by Yurgon

[deaconjb]

I agree that the A-10C is an easy plane to fly and learn TO/Landings; Hell I do it all the time just for fun.

 

FSX is also good to learn IFR by using the various Navaids and such too. Much more realistic for someone to rent a Cessna/Piper vs an A-10C in "Preparation"

 

Not arguing here - just making a basic point.

 

I'm a general aviation pilot and own a c172. I agree with the quote above that FSX is great for IFR and navaids.

[Wayc00lio]

Navaids - is that bad? I hear there are quite good drugs for that now a days and you can live quite a long and normal life compared to if you'd got it in the eighties.

 

:-O

[Hamblue]

Hello! I'm new here and I plan on purchasing the A-10C Warthog. As a complete newbie who knows absolutely nothing about flying, how long would it usually take to learn the controls and the basics?

 

As far as that goes, I'm also a freshmen undergraduate in the US AFROTC program. During our junior years, we can sign up for flight training. Hopefully if I do qualify, I was wondering how big of a factor will this simulation contribute? Will it cover most of the controls that I can expect to see? Or how real does this get compared to real life combat?

Plex.

If you want a preview, go to the download section and get the DCS-10 Flight manual. It's a large read but covers everything. Here's the link:

http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/downloads/documentation/

[Plex]

Thanks for all the replies! I've been reading the manual and decided to finally purchase the game. I know that the physical experience of the game would be nothing compared to the actual experience. But I just want to learn the terms and their definitions, with some of the basic controls. Hopefully giving me an advantage when I start flight training. So buying a sim like this would help, since I'm more of a hands-on learner.

 

That aside, I'm still debating if I should get the FSX, or just stick with this simulator?

[Madone]

Thanks for all the replies! I've been reading the manual and decided to finally purchase the game. I know that the physical experience of the game would be nothing compared to the actual experience. But I just want to learn the terms and their definitions, with some of the basic controls. Hopefully giving me an advantage when I start flight training. So buying a sim like this would help, since I'm more of a hands-on learner.

 

That aside, I'm still debating if I should get the FSX, or just stick with this simulator?

 

Good deal, I'm sure you will no regret.

About your question, it's up to you man, you will see if you have enough in your plate ^^ (should be). Personally DCS is like my wife and I'm a fidel husband :lol:

[ScottishMartialArts]

Hello! I'm new here and I plan on purchasing the A-10C Warthog. As a complete newbie who knows absolutely nothing about flying, how long would it usually take to learn the controls and the basics?

 

As far as that goes, I'm also a freshmen undergraduate in the US AFROTC program. During our junior years, we can sign up for flight training. Hopefully if I do qualify, I was wondering how big of a factor will this simulation contribute? Will it cover most of the controls that I can expect to see? Or how real does this get compared to real life combat?

 

As others have noted, while simulators can teach you a lot about avionics, procedures, navigation, and reading instruments, they aren't really that effective at teaching actually piloting an airplane in flight. Although modern flight models can simulate many phenomena of flight quite accurately, it's still just an abstraction of the real thing. Furthermore, no PC simulator, no matter how accurate the flight model, can allow you to truly "feel" what flight is like. In other words, in real life, you can feel the physical forces, such as acceleration and lift, operating both on the airplane and your body, but in a PC-based simulator that simply isn't possible.

 

Now all that said, you should absolutely get A-10C -- it will teach you a lot about aviation and modern mechanized air-land battle. Being an ROTC cadet, you also have the advantage of being able to talk to your Cadre about the various tactical problems you will try to solve while flying the sim, which is fun on its own, but also demonstrates to the Cadre that you are interested and passionate about the Air Force, which will be reflected in the evaluations they do of you as a part of the national ranking prior to commissioning. Also, as others have pointed out FSX has a superb instructional component (the Rod Machado lessons, not the "Tutorials" in the missions menu) which will really help you to learn General Aviation principles.

 

Finally, are you a scholarship cadet? At least in Army ROTC, scholarship cadets got monthly stipends of several hundred dollars on top of tuition and room and board being payed for. If so, I'd highly recommend using that stipend to get a few flight training hours a month in at the local airport. Already having a private pilot's license will make you more competitive in the national ranking, and thus more likely to get the career field (I'm presuming pilot, and probably fighter pilot, which is HIGHLY competitive) you want when you are commissioned.

Edited January 4, 2013 by ScottishMartialArts