JediMaster

Honestly, I don't know why they switched to a single fin over the dual ones, especially as canted-outwards ones like those are inherently more stealthy than a single straight-up one. Unless it was cheaper somehow?

I suppose the fuselage wasn't wide enough to blank out a single tail so they went that way despite its hit on the stealth. Notice that the single tail is much larger than those because the area of the single fin has to roughly equal that of the twin ones.

I also notice the canards on that early design were much higher on the side of the nose than the EF2K's are, so perhaps by lowering them to where they did they created vortices that carry across the back to the fin and keep it working well at high AOA? Without seeing some info on wind tunnel tests at high AOA I couldn't say one way or the other.

It has to do with the combined effects of area of the fin(s) being adequate for yaw stability as well as whether you have any yaw authority at high AOA. Generally speaking the wider the fuselage, the more likely you need twin tails to keep it from losing yaw at high AOA.

Last night launch...we're down to the end. And our fearless leader has decided after 7 years and billions of dollars not to bother funding the replacement.

Well France has no F-16s, but Turkey and Singapore do, so I guess Israel isn't alone!

I admit I haven't had much chance to fly with it yet, but so far my G940 works well in everything I've tried it with including SF2.

FYI I had to install the LOMAC "Vista patch" 1.12b to get it working even when I had XP. The 1.12a "XP" version wouldn't work for me.

LOL, I got the binder edition and the Prima strat guide, too! I'm not selling mine.

I'm now on my latest purchase...The Beatles in Mono! Sure it was another $200 on top of the $200 I spent on the stereo set in September, but it's a whole other ballgame hearing them this way.

And so it begins...

The problem is that when you send a "good" kid to school they're invariably exposed to far too many "bad" kids now from worthless "parents" and the whole lot get soiled.

A-10 can't carry any ARMs. Only guided missile is the AGM-65. Dumb bombs and rockets a plenty, of course. It can't self-designate an LGB, but it can carry them. I think the A-10C can drop JDAMs now too.

Yeah, I'm thinking they could have yaw issues at high AOA with the vertical stabs that small size...the LERXs could blank them. Unless the LERX/wingroot join notch is such that it creates a vortex that hits the stab just right...

So, this is just a guess mind you, but is that plane from the GUNSLINGERS by any chance?

Of course, I think that's because most nations don't need to refuel anything other than fighters due to the limited radius of their operation. Very few countries refuel heavies in the air.

In fact, am I right in thinking the only country with F-16s that midair refuels other than the US is Israel?

That's why I personally have felt flying MSFS is like watching an adult film with your hands tied behind your back.

That happened to me once, too. Of course, I didn't have the emergency call rescue! I think I wormed out of it by faking extreme fatigue after a long day of work and begging off.

However, I did meet my wife of over 11 yrs online, so it CAN happen.

Well, they had their job replaced by an existing plane. I don't think the A-10 is high on the list of priorities to be replaced right now, older high-time F-16s come first.

SF2 is indeed improved in many areas over SFG, but it's still the same game. Better AI, better graphics, better flight, better terrain, same style.

I don't know what F/A-18 you're referring to, but my guess is it's indeed an addon for MSFS. There's a lot of those around.

Falcon 4:AF is several years old and based on F4 which came out in 1998, so it looks VERY dated. If you can see past the much-older-than-SFG graphics, though, it's a great sim. It can be very frustrating at first as the learning curve is steep, however. Give yourself a few dozen hours in the cockpit minimum to really learn it.

Not the teacher, that's the prinicpal. They're a different breed...and not a better one.

Boeing is currently shipping the first of up to 232 new wingsets to Hill AFB to rewing A-10s. Those planes aren't going anywhere!

Don't forget that escape pod.

Apparently the price of printed manuals escalated greatly in the 2000's and hence they disappeared. I remember discussion about it when LOMAC first came out with its small manual (which now would seem a hefty tome!) and its expanded PDF.

You didn't think AF1 would have ECM?

As for Marine One, while it has never been an H-53, it is often escorted by a pair of them.

MS Flight Sim is like X Plane. If you like one, you'll like the other.

SFG has a whole group of similar sims with different terrains, planes, and eras. They cover Vietnam, Israel, Europe, and WWI. Check out www.thirdwire.com to see them. Like SFG, they're all very easy to just jump into, fly, and fight.

LockOn is more complex with more to do in the cockpits and more accurate radar and avionics controls. An updated LOMAC 2.0 is due out soon.

If you like WWII, Il-2 is the place to go.

If you like WWI, the CFS3 mod OFF is great, and some people have seen past the shortcomings of the new Rise of Flight to enjoy that.

Falcon 4:Allied Force and DCS: Black Shark are the pinnacle of realism with a single craft modeled and TONS of switches and knobs to learn. An A-10 is in the works for the DCS series that will let you fly both together.

To be honest, I think the glory days of the big mods are over as it takes far more effort now and people seem to have no ability to actually complete them. You see so many "starting" but few deliver even an alpha, unless you mean small things like skins or models. I've lost count of how many mods I've seen that started development BEFORE the game's release only to announce "it's over" 2 years AFTER the game comes out.