A request for P4

[von Baur 54]

The ability to preview weather before committing to a mission. Alternatively, the option to scrub a mission within the first minute or two without it counting in your log as flown. Currently one doesn't know whether or not it's raining or snowing or the visibility is crap until he gets to the field (and if there is a way to check that please let me know and disregard the rest of this post ), at which point it goes into the log as a mission flown. It would be nice if we could decide that the weather was not suitable for flying without being saddled with a 'ghost mission'.

 

Weather conditions were a major factor in flying until the advent of radio/radar-based navigational equipment and even as late as the 1950's and 1960's could halt operations, particularly ground support missions. As dire as the situation was during the Battle of the Bulge, no air ops were launched until the weather cleared. While I won't dispute that there were probably many missions flown in poor weather conditions I maintain that OFF has us flying, on a regular basis, in much worse than would have been normally acceptable. Also, flying being halted for days due to poor weather was a theme that was recounted in memoirs of pilots from all nations. And it makes sense, when you think about it. No radios, no advanced navigational equipment, rain smearing your windscreen and/or goggles (not to mention rain hitting your face at 80+ mph in an open cockpit airplane stings like hell...try sticking your arm out your car window next time you're on the highway and it's raning) would make effective flying next to impossible under any but VFR conditions. And while a bomber or recce mission might be able to be carried out with visibility less than three miles or so (if the pilot was skilled enough to find the target) CAP missions would be like playing "Blind Man's Bluff" with your arms tied to your sides.

 

I'm not asking for the game to automatically advance until the next 'clear and a million' day. I'd just like to have the option, particularly if I'm the flight leader, to choose whether the mission was worth the risk or if it might be an exercise in futility.

[Hasse Wind 46]

Great post. Hope to see this in P4.

 

But some of this is already in the sim; it's possible to get such bad weather that the manager tells you flying is impossible and all missions are cancelled for the day. Sometimes they prevent flying for a week or maybe even more.

[kananesgi 0]

...(not to mention rain hitting your face at 80+ mph in an open cockpit airplane stings like hell...try sticking your arm out your car window next time you're on the highway and it's raning)...

 

Try riding a motorcycle at highway speed in the rain with a shorty helmet. Now that's not fun, but it makes me appreciate a bit more some of the adverse conditions these guys had to deal with. All I had to protect my face was a pair of aviator style goggles and a bandana, no face mask or full face helmet, and no windshield.

 

 

I would have to agree that this would be a very nice addition. Basically get the weather report when you go to the briefing room just like when flights are cancelled rather than after you accept the mission.

 

Something else I would like to see is some way to force the planes to always take off into the wind. I've had two pilots now die, and my brother lost a third, because the planes were lined up with thunderstorm crosswinds that flipped the bird over during takeoff. In reality, the planes would typically line up into the wind for takeoff. That's one reason the aerodromes didn't have much of a defined runway and more just an open field for takeoff and landing. This allowed the planes to almost always be able to takeoff and land into the wind, no matter what direction it was comming from. Would also be nice to have a wind direction indicator on the "z" dialog, since a couple of the aerodromes I've flown from didn't have a windsock that I could find. Thankfully, one of them had a crashed burning aircraft very nearby and I was able to use the smoke plume to identify the wind direction.

Edited March 27, 2010 by kananesgi

[von Baur 54]

Most if not all airdromes feature a windsock, failing that you can look at the smoke being emitted from the chimmnys in the area...

 

Not so fast, there al. Pol and Winder both stated that the smoke is in a fixed direction and not subject to the wind http://forum.combata..._1entry301210. I haven't seen any update on that, although I'll admit that one may easily have slid by me. Pol? Winder? Ruling from the referees? can we get an instant replay? *fumbles for red flag*

[Guest British_eh]

Hi there,

 

great idea von Baur! This is true in the DiD Campaign, and any other's of course. A preheads up as to rain or snow at the airfield, would be great. OFF concentrates the Missions, as realisticlally, they did not fly in inlcement weather, save when a "push" was on.

 

Cheers,

 

British_eh

 

 

[77Scout 3]

I think it is fine as is. As a pilot, the decision to fly or not fly is not mine to make...if the higher-ups say we must fly then fly we will. The OFF Manager fills this role and tells us when we can and can't fly. On the days the Manager sends me up in rain and/or snow it is never so bad that I can't make my way and complete the mission (it is just light rain or snow, never zero visibility or even close) so seems reasonable.

 

Just my 2 cents :)

[Creaghorn 10]

as long as i know every day in BHAH is from original data. so the weather on every day is as it was in real. if it's unflyable, then the day or some days in a row are cancelled. in literature i've also often read about them flying in dull weather. if they had only flown in nice weather, they would never reach 800+ flying hours as it was in real.

in BHAH often you start in a little rain, but at some height the rain ceases completely and vice versa. i think in real also often they started with questionable weather without rain, and then run into cloud layers where it rained. but on every flying day in BHAH you'll never experience such black clouds and thunderstorms that flying seems unrealistic. so for me it's fine

[+Polovski 460]

It's already in there, try flying in worse months and you should get missions cancelled sometimes. Also you can get a weather report put on "Persistant Weather Stats" in Workshop.