Real realism (some pics...)

[Caretaker]

My extremely limited simming time this year has been dedicated nearly exclusively to Lock On. But sometimes you have to expand your horizon a bit, and fortunately I had some opportunities to check out a different kind of flying earlier this year...

 

As you can see from my look, I was a bit sceptical at first (probably heard too many "most realistic ever" claims already...).

 

 

The two-seater instructor mode proved pretty helpful I have to say; the start already was quite rough and turbulent.

 

 

Graphics were incredible; yeah I know some people say "graphics don't matter" but this was really breathtaking.

 

 

Incredible ground detail here (cockpit reflections may be a bit overdone though).

 

 

View system was very intuitive, but somewhat limited - this is about the max angle I achieved when turning the head.

 

 

Damage model was also pretty detailed - note the canopy crack in the lower area.

 

 

Some AI planes chasing each other here (four of them actually, have fun spotting them all ;)).

 

 

Nice detail level around the airport - this is already the descent for the landing approach:

 

 

Keeping the airport in view (padlock mode):

 

 

...and just a few moments before touchdown (landing perpendicularly to the runway on the grass; forunately no instant explosion here ;)):

 

 

Overall a damn fun ride - actually had three of them this day, the first two with this pilot (who was a priest BTW, can't hurt I thought ;)) and the last with a much younger guy who had a slightly more "dramatic" style of flying :)

 

I know I'm not the first armchair pilot to finally finds his way into a real cockpit, but I can only repeat what other people have already said many times: it's more than worth it, great by itself but also quite revealing when you compare your standard flight sim experience with it. This was, apparently, a glider and as such not totally comparable to neither jet nor WW2 sims, but still finally gave me some insight into what "flying with your butt" really means :) Especially the start was really a rollercoaster ride; even though I had expected exactly that, I was still looking frantically for something to grab and hold tight (not that easy btw: the stick, the flaps lever, the canopy handles and for sure the towline release lever are off-limits for obvious reasons). Later on I took over control for a few turns, and I don't think I ever handled a plane in any sim with such concentration and patience ;)

 

Earlier that year I was already invited for a glider flight by a close friend's father; unfortunately there were just no proper thermals that day so it was a pretty short flight. We had a winch launch there though (I prefer to think of that rather as a "catapult launch" ;)) which was also quite an experience...

 

 

Finally, a few weeks later on a local airshow, I took a ride in this beauty:

We had a US Black Hawk pilot on board for this flight, who took over for some minutes... hmm a Russian plane in Germany being piloted by an American helicopter pilot, interesting combination :)

 

So in short, for the people here who have not had a similar experience yet: if you get the opportunity, do it, you owe it to you!

 

Now where can I book those MiG-31 flights again...? :p

 

 

Cheers,

[Dronas]

Very good, thanks ;)

 

Зы, а шлем у него хоть и лёгкий, но не лёдческий :) (а ведь фик фразу на английский переведёшь)

[Yellonet]

Nice pictures... good storytelling too :)

 

The only plane I've flown was a small 4 seater... was pretty cool though when they tilted the plane 90º and you were looking straight into the ground through the side window, it was a bit scary though as you were being pressed against the (thin plastic) window, feeling that you would fall if it broke :p

 

There's also MiG-25 rides to 'the edge of space'... a bit costly though ;)

[britgliderpilot]

Caretaker!!

 

Wondered where you'd got to . . . . being converted into a glider pilot, then? :D

[Pilotasso]

Hi caretaker!! good to see ya again! Flying aerobatics gliders is also one thing I already did. I got a few rides and let me tell you, my brother who is a cadette did things up there no usual instructor would dare to do to a noob.

 

The two-seater instructor mode proved pretty helpful I have to say; the start already was quite rough and turbulent.

 

If you think thats turbulent, you should ask your pilot to do some aerobatics! ;)

 

I know I'm not the first armchair pilot to finally finds his way into a real cockpit, but I can only repeat what other people have already said many times: it's more than worth it, great by itself but also quite revealing when you compare your standard flight sim experience with it. This was, apparently, a glider and as such not totally comparable to neither jet nor WW2 sims, but still finally gave me some insight into what "flying with your butt" really means :)

 

I would like you to describe your heaviest manuevering you did up there. Certain manuevers can easely take you to the 4-5G realm. certainly not like in an F-16 at 9G's but then again you didnt have a G-suit or a reclined seat. Glider seats are a bit more unconfortable, specialy at least in the models I flown there was litttle head support. So I took the full G blast right on my head. During my flights I "survived" through G-warmup wich usualy takes you past 4G's, a couple of loop's, several Stalls and recoveries (insert Yikes here!)

An inverted Vrill (way, way over yikes!). You get a taste of what a real pilot will take. Although you most certainly didnt go over 5G's thats already a good experience of what you would take in a moderate fighting manuever.

 

 

Especially the start was really a rollercoaster ride; even though I had expected exactly that, I was still looking frantically for something to grab and hold tight (not that easy btw: the stick, the flaps lever, the canopy handles and for sure the towline release lever are off-limits for obvious reasons). Later on I took over control for a few turns, and I don't think I ever handled a plane in any sim with such concentration and patience ;)

 

yeah the unstable G's and the constant feeling of falling down really messes up the senses. Sometimes you think your falling away but in reality the pilots is just climbing in a parabolic flight path. I also felt I needed to grab on something. the first reation is to grab the stick LOL. I put the hands on the canopy but the thing feels so poorly suported that I feel I might fall when inverted.

My brother let me fly for a bout 15 minutes in each flight, and it realy struck me how hard it is just to keep it level. Rudder is realy soft and hard to keep it straight. Each imput had given me a respective G load wich would sometimes decieve me as to what I should do with the stick next. This is something we realy cant tell in a game. If you dont look at the intruments (no HUD here) you are likely to be flying in a completely different flight path than that you have idialized.

 

After this experienced I felt realy humbled since my spacial perception was a bit compromised and I then realised it would extremely hard to just do all the cool manuevers I do online with LOMAC. It takes some endurance on your stomach and ignore the decieving G's (sometimes it will desorient a guy to the point he doesnt know wheres up and down even though the horizon color difference is clear, your preception of the world outside is simply overriden).

[MGonzales]

Man, how cool was that?! :cool:

--

 

 

Mark

[Chizh]

Nice pictures Caretaker!

Congrats with this experience. :)

[britgliderpilot]

I would like you to describe your heaviest manuevering you did up there. Certain manuevers can easely take you to the 4-5G realm. certainly not like in an F-16 at 9G but then again you didnt have a G-suit or a reclined seat. Glider seats are a bit more unconfortable, specialy at least in the models I flown there was litttle head support. So I took the full G blast right on my head. During my flights I "survived through G-warmup wich usualy takes you past 4G's, a couple of loop's, several Stalls and recoveries (insert Yikes here!)

An inverted Vrill (way, way over yikes!). You get a taste of what a real pilot will take. Although you most certainly didnt go over 5G's thats already a good experience of what you would take in a moderate fighting manuever.

 

After this experienced I felt realy humbled since my spacial perception was a bit compromised and I then realised it would extremely hard to just do all the cool manuevers I do online with LOMAC. It takes some endurance on your stomach and ignore the decieving G's (sometimes it will desorient a guy to the point he doesnt know wheres up and down even though the horizon color different is clear, your preception of the world outside is simply overriden).

 

My first loop in a glider, the instructor put the control in a LOT more rapidly than I was expecting - had no idea what to expect and got my head slammed back into the instructor's instrument binnacle.

 

Had a sore head and neck for about a week after that :p

[Pilotasso]

My first loop in a glider, the instructor put the control in a LOT more rapidly than I was expecting - had no idea what to expect and got my head slammed back into the instructor's instrument binnacle.

 

Had a sore head and neck for about a week after that :p

 

yeah...and now that you mention it, anyone thats thinking about flying in a glider, everytime you do a loop your almost certain to stall the thing. In every loop I did the glider went to a near stand still in the air at the top. Some realy cool low G's follows it and all the trash in the pit flies up to the canopy LOL. Its realy funy if you have traped flying insects and they just go nuts banging on the transparency LOL.

[airea]

What is the cost of starting this? It seems quite fun:)

I have a paraglider, gives a very different flying experience, especially when the you encounter with wing collapses:) You see how your wing just turns out to be a piece of crispy fabric, when it colapses at 1000mt:)

 

But I am sure gliders would be the most exciting of all sports flying, being in a cockpit with no engines:)

[Guest ThomasDWeiss]

Best Graphics engine I've seen - better than the one Lock On uses. ;)

[Maximus]

Hello Guys, that was pretty cool experience you have, I would go for it, if pilot let me control the plane for short time heh-heh!

 

Quess what guys, I am in process to ride the Peoria, ANG C-130, I don't know if they will approve for me to ride on it.

 

I will share my experience here, but it wont happen next year during 2006 Peoria, Airshow. (yes that when I might ride during that airshow)

 

here is one photo that my dad shoots when he was riding the C-130 last year.

 

:p

[britgliderpilot]

yeah...and now that you mention it, anyone thats thinking about flying in a glider, everytime you do a loop your almost certain to stall the thing. In every loop I did the glider went to a near stand still in the air at the top. Some realy cool low G's follows it and all the trash in the pit flies up to the canopy LOL. Its realy funy if you have traped flying insects and they just go nuts banging on the transparency LOL.

 

The trick is having enough speed at the top so that you don't quite stop, obviously :p

 

 

I looped a T21 earlier this summer - 1950's vintage, basically a 110% Grunau baby with two seats side by side.

Looping entry speed is about two knots below Vne . . . . not that that matters, because the thing's so draggy you have to be REAAALLLY trying to get it to go that fast :p

[britgliderpilot]

What is the cost of starting this? It seems quite fun:)

I have a paraglider, gives a very different flying experience, especially when the you encounter with wing collapses:) You see how your wing just turns out to be a piece of crispy fabric, when it colapses at 1000mt:)

 

But I am sure gliders would be the most exciting of all sports flying, being in a cockpit with no engines:)

 

A potential convert!! :D

 

 

One of my cousins took up real gliding after he stalled his hang-glider - a similar experience to what you describe, I think ;)

 

 

It is indeed fantastic fun - it's the last real seat of the pants flying you can do. Hang-gliding and paragliding may put you slightly closer to the action, but gliders are slightly more comfortable and you can go rather further in them

 

This summer I rode with an instructor on a 200km flight during a club competition - seriously good fun. Only drawback was that 200km was still 13 miles short of home . . . . and we landed near the only village in Shropshire without a pub. Sod's bloody law . . . . .

 

The cost of gliding varies from country to country - you can guarantee it's much cheaper than powered flying, but isn't necessarily cheap.

My home club offers week-long courses for a maximum (height of summer) cost of £450, or a fixed-price-to-solo cost of £750.

[Weta43]

I flew a glider for the first time the weekend before last - it's pretty cool eh?

Except it was tricky to not fluctuate speed as I turned - you loose speed much faster when you let the nose come up in real life in a glider than in a jet, in a sim... :-)

[airea]

A potential convert!! :D

 

 

One of my cousins took up real gliding after he stalled his hang-glider - a similar experience to what you describe, I think ;)

 

 

It is indeed fantastic fun - it's the last real seat of the pants flying you can do. Hang-gliding and paragliding may put you slightly closer to the action, but gliders are slightly more comfortable and you can go rather further in them

 

This summer I rode with an instructor on a 200km flight during a club competition - seriously good fun. Only drawback was that 200km was still 13 miles short of home . . . . and we landed near the only village in Shropshire without a pub. Sod's bloody law . . . . .

 

The cost of gliding varies from country to country - you can guarantee it's much cheaper than powered flying, but isn't necessarily cheap.

My home club offers week-long courses for a maximum (height of summer) cost of £450, or a fixed-price-to-solo cost of £750.

 

 

The real advantage of paragliding is that it is very practical and indeed, the easiest way of flying your own aircraft. You can get a full pg equipment with some middle range varios, etc for 4000-5000 usd and fly up virtually from everywhere.

 

But of course, the pleasure of gliders should be much more appealing then paragliding:)

[Shaman]

Do you always fly with low res? ;)

 

 

 

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Thanks for sharing. Nice pictures.

[USSR_Baikal]

WoW! Good alpha testing of nexxxt Project of LockOn ! :D Be more carefull with damage model! ;)

Congratulations,Caretaker! It was very nice fly , i see! Continue it! Great thanks for the photos!

[Caretaker]

Glad you guys like it...!

 

Wondered where you'd got to . . . . being converted into a glider pilot, then?

 

Yeah I wondered as well to be honest... mostly time issues due to the job, and some not so pleasant family issues that kept me occupied. I have a few days off at the moment and thought that would be a good opportunity to start posting again.

 

As for the glider flying, I'm still thinking about acquiring a license, but at the moment - again due to time constraints - it's not really an option. I think without being able to pursue it on a regular basis, it doesn't make too much sense - then again that may change again until next year, so who knows ;) Anyway, I sure had to try it once!

 

 

If you think thats turbulent, you should ask your pilot to do some aerobatics! ;)

 

I did, but only on the last flight; too bad the pilot said he didn't have a license for that yet (then again, maybe I was lucky...). First two flights were more about getting used to it and trying some stuff myself. And they were over so quickly in the end (some 45-60 minutes each, but it feels much shorter up there) that I actually forgot about asking for some aerobatics... ;)

 

I would like you to describe your heaviest manuevering you did up there. Certain manuevers can easely take you to the 4-5G realm. certainly not like in an F-16 at 9G's but then again you didnt have a G-suit or a reclined seat. Glider seats are a bit more unconfortable, specialy at least in the models I flown there was litttle head support. So I took the full G blast right on my head. During my flights I "survived" through G-warmup wich usualy takes you past 4G's, a couple of loop's, several Stalls and recoveries (insert Yikes here!)

An inverted Vrill (way, way over yikes!). You get a taste of what a real pilot will take. Although you most certainly didnt go over 5G's thats already a good experience of what you would take in a moderate fighting manuever.

 

I really only had some tight turns, not sure about the acceleration... felt cool though! :) Some aerobatics are on the list for the next flight... sounds like quite a ride though from what you describe! It's remarkable what some people are doing with unpowered planes anyway... ;)

 

Of course that winch start I had some weeks before was yet another dimension. That thing pulled us into the air so violently that I was sure I was going to die! :)

 

yeah the unstable G's and the constant feeling of falling down really messes up the senses. Sometimes you think your falling away but in reality the pilots is just climbing in a parabolic flight path. I also felt I needed to grab on something. the first reation is to grab the stick LOL. I put the hands on the canopy but the thing feels so poorly suported that I feel I might fall when inverted.

My brother let me fly for a bout 15 minutes in each flight, and it realy struck me how hard it is just to keep it level. Rudder is realy soft and hard to keep it straight. Each imput had given me a respective G load wich would sometimes decieve me as to what I should do with the stick next. This is something we realy cant tell in a game. If you dont look at the intruments (no HUD here) you are likely to be flying in a completely different flight path than that you have idialized.

 

After this experienced I felt realy humbled since my spacial perception was a bit compromised and I then realised it would extremely hard to just do all the cool manuevers I do online with LOMAC. It takes some endurance on your stomach and ignore the decieving G's (sometimes it will desorient a guy to the point he doesnt know wheres up and down even though the horizon color difference is clear, your preception of the world outside is simply overriden).

 

I know what you mean :) The confusion when your stomach tells you something different than your eyes about where "below" is, is also something you have to experience first (no matter how often you read about it before). I wasn't sure how well I'd take it anyway; fortunately that wasn't much of an issue (well the 2nd flight was actually very turbulent, and I was a bit shaky when climbing out of the cockpit, but nothing serious...).

 

It's a pity that these aspects of flying can never be replicated in sims that way (I don't expect someone to invent an artifical gravity device in time... :p). In a real plane, just doing a simple turn is something exciting that way. And you sure are more afraid of crashing without a respawn button :p

 

 

What is the cost of starting this? It seems quite fun:)

I have a paraglider, gives a very different flying experience, especially when the you encounter with wing collapses:) You see how your wing just turns out to be a piece of crispy fabric, when it colapses at 1000mt:)

 

But I am sure gliders would be the most exciting of all sports flying, being in a cockpit with no engines:)

 

As BGP explained, it's not that expensive; in Germany you can often join a club which makes it even cheaper. It's more the time investment that I'm concerned about. Flight sims require slightly less organisational effort :)

 

As for the collapsing wing, well, the day before I went flying there, they had the first midair collision since over 30 years :o Both planes came down safely fortunately, but it was a nice introduction during the morning's briefing as that accident was analyzed in quite some detail... in fact it really gave me a strange feeling whenever another plane was in sight at about the same altitude... getting an idea of spotting other planes in a real plane was also interesting BTW :)

 

 

Best Graphics engine I've seen - better than the one Lock On uses. ;)

 

sure, but I was actually surprised how close Lock On already is. The landscape colours, the weather... well apparently still some way to go, but we've come a long way since Flanker 1.0 ;)

 

 

Quess what guys, I am in process to ride the Peoria, ANG C-130, I don't know if they will approve for me to ride on it.

 

I will share my experience here, but it wont happen next year during 2006 Peoria, Airshow. (yes that when I might ride during that airshow)

 

here is one photo that my dad shoots when he was riding the C-130 last year.

 

Sounds cool... good luck with that flight!

 

A workmate of mine is working as a freelance photographer for AP, and already made some trips to Afghanistan. Some weeks ago he was called on short notice and was able to fly there with the US military for some press event... in a C-17, complete with midair refuelling which he was allowed to watch from the cockpit :) Must have been a scary experience as well according to him... still have to ask him for his photos of that though. I'll try to post them here if he doesn't mind.

 

Cheers,

[Pilotasso]

What is the cost of starting this? It seems quite fun:)

 

Depends...if you want to have a license, its as Britglider said. However if your only interested in simple joyrides prices vary alot. I payed an average of 25€ for each flight but thats because I split costs in half with my brother. It also depends how high you want the tow plane do go, and the flying time. The Tow plane has more impact on the price. Flying time can vary from 15 minutes to a full hour ( it was the case of the flight I decribed earlier).

 

Solo flights for competition will last much longer. My brohter holds the local record of 4h:45m. But then we get to have violent Thermals over here. When it rains and sudenly gets sunny, youll get some freak thermals...its a scary ride heheheh.

[Pilotasso]

The trick is having enough speed at the top so that you don't quite stop, obviously :p

 

 

I looped a T21 earlier this summer - 1950's vintage, basically a 110% Grunau baby with two seats side by side.

Looping entry speed is about two knots below Vne . . . . not that that matters, because the thing's so draggy you have to be REAAALLLY trying to get it to go that fast :p

 

it depends on your mount realy. I've flown in Super-blanik and ASK-21. Prior to each Loop we did a nose down run, right untill the red line, then we pull up typicaly at 3-4G's. Its very hard not to stop at the top with these. You should try doing it with more modern types. A litle of extra water ballast might helP?

[britgliderpilot]

it depends on your mount realy. I've flown in Super-blanik and ASK-21. Prior to each Loop we did a nose down run, right untill the red line, then we pull up typicaly at 3-4G's. Its very hard not to stop at the top with these. You should try doing it with more modern types. A litle of extra water ballast might helP?

 

Oh yeah, I've looped the K21, the K13, and the K23 . . . . . I just happened flying the T21 and we decided to do a loop in something built in the 50's just for the fun of it :D

 

 

Next summer will be the "dress-up-in-period-costume-fly-cross-country-to-another-airfield-and-try-to-persuade-them-we-launched-in-1953" trick :D

 

It got repainted in glorious red and white RAF Cadet colours - find a Sidcot suit, helmet, goggles, thermos of tea (we are British, after all), sandwiches in brown paper . . . . .

[SUBS17]

Blaniks a good glider I've flown those a few times, great stuff Caretaker gliders are a lot of fun.

[Roman G]

Hey Caretaker !

 

Just want to remark that I see some room for improvement in 6DOF and cockpit modeling there. Also you are still ignoring wishes of western community - I don't know why you chose those strange planes instead of finally giving us F-16 or F-18 ! ;)

 

Nice to see you around again ...

Roman

[Starlight]

Glad to see you again, man ;)