FastCargo

Merc is only for SF2 or SFP1/SFG. FC

It's a weakness of the sim. It doesn't have crisp nosewheel steering response above about 10 knots. Most aircraft are affected like that...that's why you'll notice the AI doesn't taxi very fast. Keep the discussion to the Mirage issues if possible. FC

Yes. Either fly in campaigns only. Or make entries into in the terrain ini files that detail what nations are allowed in theatre. FC

Did you check if you were in Hard FM vs Normal FM? FC

The F-15 actually has quite a bit of nose high authority in landing. You can keep the nose wheel airborne below 60 knots. FC

Heh, now you know what I had to deal with the Super Hornet... FC

Nope, simple ini edit. Look for the _cockpit.ini file for that particular aircraft. Go into the file and you'll find the lines you are looking for...pretty self explanatory. FC

Not bad for a design that's based in the 50s... FC

A few that actually happened to me: Doing the calculations for a DC-10-10 takeoff, we were going to have a stop margin of less than 500 feet. Translated, it means if we abort just before the minimum speed needed to get airborne with the loss of a single engine on takeoff (V1), that there will be less than 500 feet of runway remaining (for a DC-10, that translates to just over 3 ship lengths). What that REALLY means is that you'll have a long takeoff roll...a very long takeoff roll. A "are you sure we're going to rotate before the end of the runway" takeoff roll. Well, after our REALLY long takeoff roll, the controller says, quote, "FedEx XXXX very heavy, contact departure, we'll trim those trees for you next time..." ----------------------------- While flying my T-38A way back in the day, we were descending into the Abilene area, when we have the following exchange with center: Center: "Rambo 16, contact approach on-AAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" A few pregnant pauses go by. Center: "Disregard." A few more pauses later. Us: "Center, Rambo 16, say again, frequency...if able." Center: "Rambo 16, contact approach on XXX.XX, our coffee is VERY hot..." Us (chuckling): "XXX.XX for Rambo 16...y'all be careful!" ---------------------------- Finally, overhead this one coming out of Newark, a flood of us FedEx guys are coming from the Northeast corridor to Memphis. Center: "FedEx XXXX, proceed present position to XXX." FedEx XXXX: "Center, FedEx XXXX, we need an initial vector, no RNAV" Center: "FedEx XXXX, understand you are unable RNAV...wait, yep, I see it right here." A pause. Center: "FedEx XXXX, let me get this straight, your trucks have GPS, but some of your planes don't?!?" ------------------------------- FC

Oh jeez...I'm an idiot. Figures that since it is a Navy related museum, that it might have Navy missiles...including the Regulus submarine launched cruise missile... Cel nav? Are you kiddin? About the only cel nav I know is where Polaris is! FC

Mace/Matador and Talos missiles? FC

Heh, airshows are pretty funny, I did a lot of them back in the day. By far the most often asked question of me at an airshow: "Is this an F-5?" I get that one a LOT! If it wasn't for the fact that it wouldn't make good public relations, you could turn it into a drinking game. Or a betting match... Now, I'll be fair, the F-5B and T-38A/B/C are very similar looking. Main fuselage, tail, general wing and slab structure are all almost identical. Even guys with lots of experience viewing aircraft can mistake one for the other at first glance. Far and away though, my favorite airshow story involving misidentification (that's fit for public consumption) concerns a group of individuals at the August 2000 Abottsford Airshow, British Columbia, Canada. The airshow was Friday, Saturday, Sunday. On Friday, these yahoos had thrown sheep's blood on a F-15E from Seymour Johnson. No damage was done, but everyone heard about it of course. On Saturday, these guys were back, but they had a police escort. Obviously, they were free to express their views, but no damage/defacement to aircraft or personnel...the police were here to see to that. Anyway, they're roaming around, and decide they are going to do a little sing-in in front of a particularly nasty looking aircraft...quite obviously a killer of civilians, flown by war criminals. All black, with bright blood red lettering...those fiends! Yep, my T-38A...black and red, flown in from Beale AFB. The lead police officer came by a few minutes beforehand and asked if it was okay. I'm not sure if I had a legal right to refuse them anyway, but even then, I've never had a problem with protests as long as they don't interfere/assualt people, or damage property. Of course, it was all I could do to not laugh when he asked. I actually had to ask him to say it again, because I was unsure that he said what I though he said - "Wait, out of all the aircraft here, they want to protest in front of mine???" I said they could knock themselves out as long as they didn't damage or deface anything. Sure enough, these very serious folks stood in front of my aircraft, singing songs, holding signs, and they filmed themselves (I stood WELL out of the way). I really didn't have the heart to tell them the only thing I've ever destroyed in a T-38 is a student's ego. I took pictures of them instead. However, I kept knowledge about the protest to myself. Last thing I wanted was to not be able to go to the airshow next year because our squadron would be worried about getting protested! Funny, because a few days later, a general message was sent out to all USAF units cautioning about protesters damaging equipment or personnel, specifically detailing the Abbotsford Airshow F-15E incident. I really should find and post those pictures somewhere... FC

Now, now, I didn't mention any names... FC

I've heard that too...in any hobby, there are folks who take it a little far... FC

1. As far as I can tell, you can only change the type and size of the font (which changes the overall size of the loading bar). You can also change the location. But that's about it. 2. There is only a list of the various acronyms and what they mean (AHM, SAHM, etc), there is no "This number is this type of weapon" list anywhere. The best way folks have been making weapons is taking another weapon that works in a similar fashion, and change the parameters to the weapon that you want. FC

What really sucks about this is that now the feds may consider getting involved and make a law prohibiting such devices on the flight deck. One of the things we fight in my civilian job on back side of the clock flying is boredom...not having enough stress is just as dangerous as too much. Electronic devices (non-transmitting) can be just as much of a help as something like a book, sudoku, crosswords, etc. The trick, as with anything else, is a good crosscheck. One person craps in their pants, and the rest of us have to wear diapers... FC

Saturn 5 technology was reliable, had tons of throw weight capability, and was proven (hell, Apollo 12 was STRUCK BY LIGHTING DURING ASCENT and still made it to orbit). The biggest issue with getting things to orbit is that it takes fuel to move weight. But you also need fuel to carry fuel, and that additional fuel needs additional weight to the structure to store it....you get the idea. That's why traditional staging is efficient, because you get rid of 'dead weight' as you use up fuel. Which means more of your total liftoff weight can be dedicated to your payload. You can already see the issue. The shuttle configuration required lifting a structure the size of a DC-9 to orbit, not including the payload. This is why the shuttle was built as a semi-reuseable system, to increase the payload fraction (the amount of total liftoff weight taken up by payload). The original proposals for fully reusable systems resulted in very large, very complex, very expensive to develop systems that didn't have sufficient payload fraction. So now, you have the worst of both worlds...staging, so you dispose of parts of your rocket with every launch, and reusable, so you have to lift a lot of weight that has to be returned back to earth...reducing the amount you can throw into orbit (yep, it was designed by politics...no, I'm not kidding). And don't get me started on using non-throttleable, non-shutoff capable solid rocket boosters on a man-rated spacecraft... Our current technology level to get to LEO needs to fall into one of 2 camps...either fully reusuable, with an acceptance of low throw weight, or a BDB (Big Dumb Booster), which has high throw weight, but disposable rockets. I personally think we should have had both...Saturn 5 tech to send up your large cargo items, and a small reuseable spaceplane (think Dyna-Soar) for crew or small payloads only. This is my opinion of course...I'd be curious as to what Jedi has to say about it... FC

Look at the video tutorials, and also, read the ThirdWire exporter notes. Aircraft do not use 'bones' like you think of for other types of modeling. FC

I wish I did have Phantom time... Anyway, thanks for the comments guys. I figured everyone in our hobby has encountered this kind of individual at one time or another... FC

That's not a texture problem, it's a LOD problem. You are missing the 3d model for that particular aircraft. Also, you are no longer running a stock install if you've added mods. Check how you installed the mod to make sure all the files needed were included. FC

Not easily, not legally. FC

You didn't use the materials editor to properly assign TGAs to the parts, including activating the Opacity and Self-Illumination parameters. As far as shadows, there is a thread someone else asked the same question. The answer is yes, just like any other ground or air object, the appropriate lines have to be written in the ini file. FC

Well, we actually do use laptops in the cockpit for flying purposes, that in and of itself isn't unusual. It would be the equal of using paper schedules to point out things to each other. However, again, even losing comm isn't necessarily a huge deal, it sometimes happens, but usually gets fixed pretty quickly with a guard call or just "Hey, I haven't heard from anyone in a while, let me call center...". But the amount of time out of comm and the very large overshooting of their destination...I can't fathom how that happened AT ALL. Seriously, I haven't a clue on this one other than they were both sleeping. FC

I would also recommend "Phantom Over Vietnam" by John Trotti. http://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Over-Vietnam-Fighter-Pilot/dp/0891415998 An account of flying USMC Phantoms for 2 tours in Vietnam. Most excellent book...less technical, more personal. FC

Please cut your signature down to something more manageable. FC