switch

Yojimbo, that`s probably a miner one compared to some serious one you`ll encounter as you play along. But, like you said - as long as they keep those patches coming, I`m gonna play it. Now, since you mentioned system performance - My old problem is surfacing again: The need for speed. I used to buy things that were always top of the line (whether I really needed them or not). In the last couple of years, I used more reason. Now it seems like Lo-mac messed me up again! I`m already reading articles and "white papers" on 64 bit processors and OS`s and checking ATI`s (and others) website almost daily! ... Let me check how much I got left in my accounts...

I`ve been using Cougar for quite a while - So far, no complaits. Well, I have some suggestions for future Cougar mods but that`s another matter. I know there are people here that use CH products (MrMudd is one of them)

MadJeff When you schedule the next joint flight, can you make a flight plan: 1) Where we`ll fly (so I can whip out some charts) 2) Obviously - time 3) Any specific aircraft (similar performance characteristics)? ... and any other stuff you can come up with. Switch

Damn! I didn`t make it on time! As soon as I get home I`m gonna download that Teamspeak program and be ready for FS flights by tomorrow morning. I don`t know about other people schedules, but for me the best time for joint Biohaz flying would be on the weekends or weekday mornings. Damn again! - MrMudd was in the air and I missed it! :(

As far as simulators are concerned, I guess Instigator is right. Well, it depends what your "approach" is. If you`re one of those guys that constantly scan and interpret various instruments even when it`s not really necessary (like me :) ) then that could be fun too.

I think Boltz was refering to flying in RL. Even in the initial phase of private pilot training you do get some exposure to instrument flying. Not as much in terms of following proper procedures, charts and such. The focus is on learning how to read instrumens mostly for confidence purposes. At that stage you are a VFR pilot but you have to able to fly basic instruments without outside reference. On some of these training flights the instructor will put a hood on your forhead that restricts your vision to the instrument panel. Then he`ll throw some wild manouvers to disorient you. (That also includes power setting changes) You will have to recover from these unusual situations using only instrument indications. It is fun!

:D

It would be weird if one of us was flying Cessna 152 and some other guy was flying one of those add-on F-104s! I`ll try to make it tonight (although very unlikely). Also I have to get one of those voice comm gizmos. Got to get some info on that too.

CAG had to go!

It looks like a rubber band snapping. Not too bad. I tried to take a snapshot of the CAG bird from VFA-136 that I invited to the boat. I didn`t quite catch the moment of the hook engaging the wire, but you can see the hook still pulled up. The wire is pre-tensioned already! (Efficiency!)

3)

2)

Since FatElvis mentioned it - I had to do it myself

I saw your post on UBI`s forum. It`s sliding fast into oblivion of page 2,3, 4 ... I`m sure many people asked (themselves) that question many times. ...I don`t know. I know what they should be doing. And if they did have some input, who knows how the devs responded?

Snapple, the US carriers are not fully functional yet. You can place them in the theater using mission editor but there`s no aircraft based and operating from it. They do have a fully functional air defence systems (sea sparrows, CIWS and such) and if you create a mission and assign your aircraft to an opposing team, they`ll blow you out of the sky before you get anywhere near. With the Hornet add-on (I hope there is one) all the visual effects associated with carrier ops will probably be there. And I hope that includes a working and clearly visible "meatball"

And I hope they listen to you, and listen good!!! I don`t like griping too much but I`m just trying to express my honest opinions: After having tested Lo-Mac extensively, I wonder if beta testers ever did anything with the sim. And if they did - did anybody listened to them? Anyway, in spite of all the bugs - I just can`t get away from it and keep finding ways to make it fun.

It was time to brush up on some form flying. Since I wasn`t able to create a flight with me as a wingman, I created 2 separate one-ship flights. My T.O. time was 2 min ahead of the other one. I wanted to wait for the other Eagle at the ramp and then taxi behind him, form up on the runway and stay with him throughout the whole flight. Well, his time came - nothing happened. (I was looking around and checking the map view) I waited 3 more minutes and decided to roll. As soon as I got airborne I checked the map view again - there he was! Just started taxiing. Son of a gun wanted to fly by himself! I wipped the plane around and landed as quick as I could. Caught up with him on the taxiway and followed him on the runway. His big torches lit up before I had a chance to lign up. Then he was all over the place until he got to his assigned altitude. Only then I was able to close in and stay there Throughout the straight and level part of the flight he was rock steady and the form looked great but as soon as it was time to descend he went nuts again! Kicking the blower in and out, opening the break, doing push-overs that would make your eyeballs pop out! I set up his initial approach waypoint about 20 miles out hoping that he`ll have enough time to stabilize for landing. Everything looked good until about 10 miles. He decided it was time to climb Yes, the torches lit up again and off he went. I tried to stay with him but it was impossible! I finally caught up with him and at about 5 miles it started looking real good. But then he decided to slow down to about 120kts. There was no way in hell I could controll the plane at that speed. So I ended up few feet short of the runway and created a nice fireball :) I guess I`m gonna have to wait till I get online or sign up with some squadron to practice this sort of stuff. Pics again: (I promise these are last!) 1) Closing in

Only 2. My "drunk" lead and me.

5) Form Landing

4)Loose

3)In position

2) Almost

Jeez! I don`t know what the heck the devs where thinking when they came up with this refueling "help". I set up the tanker (KC-10) at 20k, 300kts. I joined up on him using the radar initially to intercept then I turned the nose cold, pulled up on his starboard observation position. Flew with him for couple of minutes then moved in to stabilized pos. directly behind him. Opened up my refueling door and at that point I got the clearance to connect. I moved the throttles up a notch and started inching it in toward the boom slightly to the right of it. When the boom passed me on my right I heard the "contact" call and the fuel was flowing. So far so good! I looked at my fuel gauge and it was showing the tanks filling up. After getting 4000 lbs I decided to disconnect. That`s when the things start getting weird! At first I moved the throttles back a little, trying to disconnect. No luck! I moved them all the way back - still welded! I tried to moved the stick - nothing! Only after my bags were full the tanker let go. And it did it by breaking away from me :o I was stunned. Well, once the tanker was out of the picture I thought I could just head back to base. Not so fast - I still couldn`t controll my plane. I could roll it but any attempt to change the pitch was countered and the plane returned to my original altitude. Then it hit me - autopilot and autothrottle!! I pressed the "h" key and "j" key to disangage both and I was free :) Anyway, I took some snapshots: 1) Starboard obs.

And when that time comes, I hope the Lo-Mac devs will make a functioning meatball on US carriers and find a way to make it visible from at least a mile. BTW, that was a cool essey FatElvis

Cool!