F6F Wheel Brakes Failed

[Devonai]

Last night I chased a set of B-17s with my Hellcat for two sectors, spending about 45 minutes setting up slashing attacks and finally gliding home with two kills and a shot out engine.  I bled off my E and landed at the nearest airbase, only to have my wheel brakes fail.  I am currently drafting a strongly-worded letter to Grumman as well as an apologetic report to my commander as to why I ran my bird off the end of the runway and into a ditch.

Seriously though, my wheel brakes failed last night.  I double-checked to make sure my C and V keys were still mapped properly and working, but they were.  I was going about 80 mph when I ran out of runway.

Unfortunately I was not rolling film, but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

[Blooz]

Seriously though, my wheel brakes failed last night.   I was going about 80 mph when I ran out of runway.

Try 80mph at the beginning of the runway instead of using all the runway to get down to 80mph.

Spacebar = brakes both wheels same time.

Failing that, your engine was shot...belly land on the runway...you'll get a "you landed successfully".

Happy combat!

[Devonai]

Thanks, I should have added that I did not hear the braking sound effect either.  As it was I came in at the near end of the runway at 150, two notches of flaps, touched down about 3/4ths from the opposite end at 110, then wrestled with the brake keys as I coasted all the way down and ditched at the far end.  I only lost 30 mph as I just rolled down the runway like an idiot.

If the brake keys had worked then I would have at least heard the sound effect.  This time, zilch.  I apologize for not recording the incident, I was just wondering if anyone else experienced this.  It seems glitchy.

[Blooz]

Sure, we've all experienced it. But it's a computer game. Your brakes will never fail. Your guns will never jam and your parachute will never get hung up as you bail out.

I realize that you dead sticked in and were just going too fast to stop. It happens. You can practice engine off and belly landings in the training arena to get the timing right. Practice using your rudder to "skid" your plane in for a slower landing. "Cross controls". Practice until you can belly land on the aircraft carrier.

"any landing you can walk away from..."

[Devonai]

Respectfully, I've been flying for six years.  I've successfully landed on a turning carrier with half a wing, landed an A-20 with no ailerons, and lots of other sketchy stuff with various parts missing.    But of course I can never rule out pilot error. 

I appreciate your encouragement and feedback.  Thank you.

[icepac]

I would have dropped the rest of the flaps to get back up...even a couple of feet and then retracted the gear.

Sadly, I also run off the runway and forget all about how aces high rewards people who belly in with miracle friction that stops a plane instantly while all the planes I have seen belly in on concrete slide quite a large distance.

[gyrene81]

Sadly, I also run off the runway and forget all about how aces high rewards people who belly in with miracle friction that stops a plane instantly while all the planes I have seen belly in on concrete slide quite a large distance.

you are a sad, sad man, everywhere you go there is something to complain about. i've never experienced those miracle friction instant stops you're talking about, unless there was an object in my path.

Devonai, did you have a game crash prior to that, or anything other than normal operation? i had some keys get "unmapped" after a game crash recently and i had to open the keyboard mapping panel then click on "default" to get things back to normal.

[fuzeman]

In my opinion a software 'bug' is a anomality you can repeat under certain defined circumstances, regularly and consistantly and not some random occurance that happens once under unknown circumstances that happens to stick in your memory. From many of the posts in this 'Bug' forum I think I have a completely opposite definition of a bug than most Aces High players who report 'bugs' in this forum.

No brake sound makes me think the game was not getting a brake command.

<snip>
Sadly, I also run off the runway and forget all about how aces high rewards people who belly in with miracle friction that stops a plane instantly while all the planes I have seen belly in on concrete slide quite a large distance.

I also have never experienced this 'miracle friction' that stopped my plane instantly.

I better go back to posting 'No Comment' for replies. The longer I'm here the less sense other peoples posts make to me.

[Devonai]

Thanks again for the feedback.  Icepac, that is a great idea, unfortunately my brain was stuck in a Neanderthal-grade feedback loop of jamming on the keys and saying "why thing no work?"

Gyrene, the last thing I did before cutting my rudder in a hopeless attempt to spin out on the tarmac (as I've done before in Zekes, but not intentionally) was press the key I have mapped to flaps, to see if my keyboard was still working.  I have three cats so it is not outside of the realm of possibility that one of them knocked out my connector.  But the flaps key worked, and the mapping was still correct.

Fuzeman, I apologize for posting something that is far closer to a rant than a bug report.  Next time I'll post in the general forum.  I was hoping maybe some other folks experienced the same thing; I realize that one isolated incident isn't a bug or helpful to the programmers.

[icepac]

So how many belly landings on concrete have you witnessed, Gyrene?

It's bound to happen when you spend a few years in airport service.......unless, like you, there is zero experience to speak of.

[gyrene81]

So how many belly landings on concrete have you witnessed, Gyrene?

It's bound to happen when you spend a few years in airport service.......unless, like you, there is zero experience to speak of.

harriers, hueys or otherwise?  2...and 1 didn't end well.

i was talking more specifically about in aces high genius...but if you want to compare to real life, don't.

[icepac]

Ok....the "zero experience" quip was uncalled for but I stand by my having observed gear down landings.

I've seen two gear up landings as an adult on concrete under controlled circumstances and the sliding was quite long and more than a few as a child.

I witnessed plenty of belly landings at NAS Lemoore as a kid in the 1960s as airport operations were a bit slack because my friends and I could watch them practice carrier traps on the arresting gear only a few hundred yards away as we ran all over that base.

I saw an unintentional gear up landing years later while I was standing with the president of A.O.P.A after winning a contest among employees on aviation proceedure as the only person who answered every single question correctly on a quiz.   (it had to do with flashing red light in the segmented circle and nobody else got that question right)

He later invited me to his office a few times during lunch to play a new game called "strike eagle".

Strangely, I see no mention of the incident but I remember the president spotting a plane on short final and joking with the avemco employees among us at lunch that they might have some work to do if the guy didn't lower his gear soon.

The guy never lowered his gear........just plain forgot.

The sliding was quite long.

His plane had a small playboy logo on the tail and we were able to walk right up and greet the pilot before any emergency trucks had even started thier engines.

No fuel leaks and I had to lean in and turn off the master switch and magnetos because the shaken pilot had forgotten them as well.

I saw a couple of others at manassas airport including a mooney that landed gear up accidently, struck the prop, added power, and went around for another shot at landing....this time with gear down.

These guys weren't landing at 180mph in planes with high wing loading at high speeds but rather less than half that, but for some reason, planes stop a whole lot faster in aces high to the point that many here don't ever bother with gear down landings unless they are rearming for the simple fact that they are only interested in getting
stopped so they can get another plane as soon as possible.

Here is a video that illustrates the distances to which I am referring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxgBuoiXlZo

[gyrene81]

oh i never doubted you've seen real life situations...but realistically speaking, honestly here, it doesn't necessarily apply in ah. in ah i can bring a plane in under 90mph and hit the fields in a manner that i would never try if i was a real pilot...i've even done it "hot" at 150+mph and skidded off the runway...because i'm not afraid of dying.

fear of death will make you more cautious than having a lack of it...and that caution will dictate that you follow procedures.

[FLS]

I have never had brakes working on a deadstick landing in Aces High. I recommend landing gear up when the engine is off.

Maybe we're supposed to hand pump the hydraulic system but the flaps still function without the engine.  

[mechanic]

If your engine has died deadstick it take's a lot more time to slow down, not sure why. Seems to have more of an effect than just turning the engine off. I've had it before where I have gone deadstick at a few thousand feet and then managed to glide much further than expected. I understand that with less drag from the prop this is sometimes intentional, however, other times I have found it seems to retain speed far more than feels realistic. That's just hearsay though, I have no evidence.