That Condor Moment...

[=CfC=Father Ted]

Some chappies had coerced  Capt Eric "Winkle" Brown to 'fly' IL-2 and give his impressions on its fidelity.   He would have been in his mid-80s at the time.   As I recall (in my Alzheimistic state) they supplied him with a Saitek X45 and let him do his thing.   He complained that aircraft response to controls was too rapid...

One thing "Condor" seems to do quite well - flying the K13 is/was like steering a boat - very easy to oscillate from side-to-side as corrections don't seem to do anything initially.

Bounder - are you suggesting you plonk one of us amateurs in front of FSX and then try to talk us through a landing in some humungous airliner?  Intriguing...

Actually I think a more direct test of IL2/real life would be having the pilot of a Harvard or some such keel over during a joy ride and seeing if we could bring that in

Ted

[=CfC=Father Ted]

"I've got hours and hours on P38s" boasts Gizmo.

He'd just go back to his seat when they explained there wasn't a gun button

[=CfC=Woof]

Ted….you have opened a right can of worms!

all you have to do is flare slightly above the runway and when the auto generated voice calls “Retard….Retard”, pull the thrust levers out of auto to idle….it really is that simple!

Good Heavens, Bounder, you flew an airplane that insulted you every time you flared?  Do that to me twice and I'd've  smacked it straight into the concrete.  That'd show it.

Reminds me of an early 727 I flew.  There was a bloody great white arrow painted on the pedestal right in front of the throttles.  Of course it pointed forward.  Now that's truly simple...minded.

[Gizmo]

Most certainly Badger, there's enough knobs, levers, twiddly things and stewardesses for both of us and we'd whoop those FSX pussies, target fixation combined with a badger growl would soon see them off.

I think I could accept the no gun button, engaging WEP and staying pointed directly at the target until the screen goes black works for me.

Moving on,, when I was about 16 I persuaded my mother to give me driving lessons, I stalled, kangarooed and eventually juddered over a rather steep 8 ft. bank bringing an end to that. I then progressed onto motorbikes doing the same things but omitting the steep bank until I got the hang of it.
5 or 6 years later I needed to drive four wheels for work and decided to take some lessons. I got into the car and drove it without a single problem passing my test after just a few lessons.
I'd learnt the principles of clutch control and gears etc. and just applied them to a set of different controls.

Now I hear you saying a bike or car is hardly an aeroplane and this is true but I will recount my next tale nontheless...

My only RL flying experience other than as a passenger was a lesson my lady bought for me as a birthday present. My mate had done the same previously and said he got to hold the yoke for a few minutes and other than that it was a local sightseeing trip.
So I arrived at the local airfield not really expecting much and Ivan, the instructor, in a very strong Russian accent asked why I was interested in flying. I explained some details about IL-2 and we then sat down with a model plane and went through what causes things to happen.

Once in the plane I taxied to the runway where he then took off. As we got clear of the field he says we want to be at such and such an altitude and heading toward a town off to our 2 o'clock. You take over.

I was flying. Levelled out, adjusted the throttle and after reaching the town followed a road for a while before heading to another town off the left wing tip. On the way there he let me play with the trim wheel and throttle seeing how the plane reacted.
He took over again to show me a very tight 360 turn, which I then copied and we headed back toward the airfield where he took over again to land.

I was mindful of treating the controls gently, it was hot with some turbulence and had to double think rudder use because I use a twist stick. If I used rudder pedals at home I think take off would be possible and with guidance landing a distinct possibility.

Summarising........like going from the bike to the car I knew what to do to get the response I wanted so I believe IL-2 does give a good  grounding for flying a real plane though another lesson might be in order before I seriously took over that 747.

[5./JG27Farber]

I am quite confused by all this flying talk - forinstance:

...when the auto generated voice calls “Retard….Retard”...

Is this when the aircraft realises you are an IL-2 Sim pilot and not a real one?

[=CFC=Buzzsaw]

    I cought that too!!

Hey Bounder, I bought the condenced version of FXS by mistake a few years ago,
if you want it, e-mail me.

Buzz

[=CfC=Bounder]

Ted, You are right....a pilot incapacitation in a Harvard would be most appropriate....know someone who would let you do it??

Buz....I might just do that....when UP3.0 + all the missions are re-built + COD fishing becomes tedious.......I may take the plunge!

Farber....As far as I know the French (who after all built the Aircoach) liked the term "Retard" which comes from the French verb "Retarder" which also means "to be retired" which is most appropriate!

If you have not heard the auto generated calls from 100feet RA during a landing, click on the link below:- (the squawk at the beginning is the autopilot disconnect warning)

http://www.hark.com/clips/tmpsbzzckb-a320-50-30-20-retard-retard

Bounder

[5./JG27Farber]

I kept hearing a "Farber you retard!" warning in my cockpit but after asking my Staffel it turns out its just Homuth shouting at me.

[=CfC=Father Ted]

I kept hearing a "Farber you retard!" warning in my cockpit but after asking my Staffel it turns out its just Homuth shouting at me.

To use an oft-abused acronym LOL!  I really did, especially at Woof's post.  I don't think I'll be attempting any landings at Fifi's or post co-op for a while...

Gizmo, your tale illustrates a point I was trying to make to someone at M4T.  Rather than demonstrating that IL2 is a good primer for RL, maybe your experience is a result of you (much as I hate to massage a fellow Chuffolite's ego) having a talent for such things?  Not that IL2, or any decent sim, wouldn't give someone a head start in real flying, but there is a natural ability factor involved in any physical activity, and some people are better than others

Ted

[Gizmo]

Fear not Ted, unlike my nose, ears and stomach my ego can't possibly get any bigger    and I do have the knack of watching someone do something once and being able to go away and do it myself.

It would've been interesting to have taken that lesson before IL-2 to compare.

And since that is the limit of my experience and I'm getting confused thinking about it I'll confine myself to flippant remarks and smiling  inwardly at the fun I could bring to 500 souls aboard a large fast moving jet plane. 

[CFC_Conky]

There is an old joke about how you can tell the difference between a new Aircoach pilot and an experienced one:

The new chap will ask: why is the airplane doing that?

The experienced one will say: Oh, it's doing it again...

Speaking of the 777, it will trim itself but the fly-by-wire system is not as 'hands-off' as the Aircoach's, it will give you nose-up/down cues so i end up trimming anyway when I hand-bomb it. That said, the 777 is very stable while remaining enjoyably responsive. It even makes me look like I know what I'm doing!

Pip, pip,
Conky

[=CfC=BlueDog]

Fine Chaps, allow me to indulge myself further:

After success at the Tiger Woods ProAM, Bluey's next dream is to perform brain surgery.   

I've imagined myself passing (by serendipitous happenstance) a craniosurgery unit when a distressed nurse flings open the door and cries:  "Quick, we've got emergency brain surgery in progress and the surgeon has suddenly developed St Vitus's Dance.   He can't do a thing with his hands.    We need someone to perform the surgery under his direction."

"Does anyone here have experience using a power drill?" she asks.

My hand shoots up immediately.   I look around and there's a bunch of Americans, each with his hand up.

"Does anyone here have experience using a tenon saw?"

My hand shoots up again.   Looking around, each of the Americans has his hand up too.

"Does anyone here have experience using a table knife?"

Again my hand shoots up in a flash.   I look around and I'm the only one with a hand up.





Anyway, I'm still thinking about those porn starlets.

[=CfC=Woof]

Bluey, you're bloody hilarious!

[=CfC= Binks]

Hmmmm, flying big shiny things, stewardesses, and porn starlets. Sounds like my kind of weekend.

[=CFC=Buzzsaw]

eeerr....whats a table knife?