Guys,
There are a couple of other points relating to Situational Awareness that aren't often mentioned.
The conscious mind can only process a few pieces of information at a time, for most of us that number is fairly small, and we suffer from cognitive overload relatively easily. Anyone who has had the wife and kids talking to them at the same time they are trying to watch the TV will confirm how small that number can be. Under stress, the number gets smaller and we tend to focus more and more on critical tasks, so situational awareness drops even lower.
Remember when you were learning to drive, every gear change, every mirror check, and every maneuver demanded concentration. But very soon, those things became second nature, so much so that you could drive while talking to a passenger, look at store windows, and check out chicks, and all the while the driving was happening as second nature, you were almost on auto pilot.
The relationship between air combat and situational awareness is a lot like that. When you can fight so well that you don't need to make a conscious effort to do it, when the maneuvers flow without requiring hardly any cognitive load, you will find that you can be fighting one bandit, while thinking about what his wingman is doing, as well as checking the sky for other aircraft, and none of it will detract from how well you are working your primary threat.
Situational Awareness is inversely related to the number of tasks making a demand on your conscious mind. The less you actually need to think about handling the aircraft, and the less you need to think about BFM, and the less stress you suffer while doing that, the more situationally aware you will be. Did you ever wonder why it often seems that the better pilots also seem to have better SA? Well that's why.
So, if you really want to be situationally aware, all of the advice in this thread will help, but if it doesn't, it probably means that you are too busy doing what pilots call "busy work" and you really need to focus on learning to handle your plane until you can do it without thinking. Then you need to learn how to employ BFM until you can do that without thinking. Then, the Situational awareness will come by itself, almost without thinking
But don't forget, no matter how good you get, there will always be an upper limit on how much information you can handle, and as the threat density increases, your SA will drop, nobody is immune to cognitive overload.
Lastly, just a word about the stress factor, because it can influence your game. Real pilots have more difficulty with this than we do, basically because if they mess up they really do die. That they need to fight to control the tension and adrenaline while maneuvering under extreme physical conditions while remaining tactically and situationally aware explains why not everyone gets to be a fighter pilot. But even in this game the adrenaline can flow and tensions can run high. The catch is that the more involved in the game you get, the more likely your game will suffer. The effect is similar to driving under the influence of alcohol, where the guy who has had too much actually thinks he is driving better. You will probably enjoy those fights where the adrenalin flows, and the tension and stress levels rise, but it probably won't have the influence on your flying that you think it will. That's why real pilots train hard and often to handle the stressful situations, so that when they occur the stress doesn't detract from their situational awareness. In Aces High we need to do the same thing, and because this is only a game, and we don't really die, staying relaxed, calm and communicative will lead to huge improvements in your game and your situational awareness.
A lot of folk know that of course, and that's one of the reasons some players use the text or radio to try and manipulate your frame of mind, and thus influence the way you fly so that they can gain an advantage. That kind of gamesmanship, will probably always be a part of the game, but being aware of it, and learning not to allow your testosterone to overrule your head, is another step towards achieving greater awareness of everything happening in the game around you. It all helps increase what you already know, and reduces what you actually need to think about, and that increases your situational awareness by yet another notch.
Unfortunately, most of the things discussed here, can't be simply switched on, you don't really have full control over it. It mostly happens over time, as you train more, and gain more experience and improve in the game your situational awareness will improve right along with you. As you consign more and more of the flying and maneuvering to a subconscious level, the more your head will move outside the cockpit and beyond a single adversary.
So, train hard and train often and don't worry about situational awareness. Take care of everything else, and the situational awareness will take care of itself.
Hope that helps...
Badboy
