Old issue, ditches on airfields.

[Ninthmessiah]

This is not an old issue.  This is a nonissue. 

Nonissue." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2014. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonissue>.
non·is·sue noun \ˈnän-ˈi-(ˌ)shü\ 
: an issue that is not important : something that people are not concerned about
:  an issue of little importance, validity, or concern

I understand it may not be an either/or situation, but I'd rather have HTC focused on the new terrain, brining back the clouds, and bridging the gap between a flap that looks like it's shot off yet still provides lift. 

As to HTC's determination that grass=ditch, meh. Don't care.

[Slate]

     You should get a "Ditch" if you don't land wheels down on the Runway so you can get rolled over to the repair shop and not scooped up with a forklift. 

[icepac]

Having actually landed a WWII aircraft on a grass strip I'm well aware of that fact.  Those grass/dirt/coral strips were prepped, rolled, maintained so that the aircraft would not sink thru them.  The vast majority of them used marston matting/PSP so that they could support the weight of an armed aircraft.  In game we're able to takeoff and land anywhere…..

I remember the "sticky grass" in warbirds and kinda liked it.

They also had certain planes enabled at "non-airfields" that were nearly impossible to take off from those "non-airfields" and loved the challenge of getting one airborne.

[Tilt]

     You should get a "Ditch" if you don't land wheels down on the Runway so you can get rolled over to the repair shop and not scooped up with a forklift. 

Agreed if the wheels are broke it should be a ditch regardless of where you land.   

However landing wheels down beside the runway should not be penalised either IMO.

Really folk should be rewarded ( or conversely not penalised) for bringing home undamaged aircraft. Unfortunately this would make the same folk ( who would care about such stuff) less likely to engage in risky combat.

[Vinkman]

I know this topic has been brought up a number of times, but it still bothers me.

In a game that is based on WWII, you must realize the any landing within the area of the base should count as a successful landing, (as long as you walk away).  Seems like this should be an easy fix.  Heck the Germans and Russians didn't have to many actual fields to use, just pasture's, and same in England for most of the war.

So seems just fair to award a landing anywhere on the confine's of a air base.

FL3,
I used to think the same thing, and actually posted a similar Wish I beileve so me years a ago. It seems silly, but Landing would simply be too easy if anywhere on the base was the criteria. This way, while seemingly not "realistic" it does add to the challenge of game play and I've come to appreciate it. And this from a guy who has lost more then one Me-262 by a couple of feet. Frustrating, but that's the point.  

[Golden Dragon]

This is not an old issue.  This is a nonissue. 

Nonissue." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2014. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonissue>.
non·is·sue noun \ˈnän-ˈi-(ˌ)shü\ 
: an issue that is not important : something that people are not concerned about
:  an issue of little importance, validity, or concern

I understand it may not be an either/or situation, but I'd rather have HTC focused on the new terrain, brining back the clouds, and bridging the gap between a flap that looks like it's shot off yet still provides lift. 

As to HTC's determination that grass=ditch, meh. Don't care.

Lol.  Amen.

[Wiley]

This is one of the few cases where I agree gameplay should take a back seat to 'realism'.  Consider the gameplay each alternative would produce.

If you required wheels-down landings to get a 'safe landing' there'd be no reason whatsoever to RTB with damaged gear.  You may as well ditch halfway back to friendly territory.

If you only have to be within the perimeter of the field, runways become decorational for landing, it gets much much easier to get your safe landing and doesn't 'mean' as much.  You didn't have to have as tight control on your plane as landing on the concrete to get the same benefit.  Base defense would look a whole lot different.

Wiley.

[LCADolby]

Realism first please.

[Widewing]

Unless I am concluding a sortie, I never land on the runway. To rearm, I land on turf directly in line with the rearm pad. I stop on the pad.

Maybe, we need a third definition for any landing on a base wheels-up.

In other words...

Wheels down on concrete or flight deck: "Safe Landing", full perks. Kills shown in text buffer.
Wheels up/wheels down on concrete or anywhere inside the base perimeter or flight deck: "Crash Landing", 75% perks. Kills shown in text buffer.
Wheels up or wheels down in friendly territory, not on any base or flight deck: "Ditch", 50% perks. No kills shown in text buffer.

[craz07]

realism first! i say have friendly collisions enabled also!! 

[Vraciu]

Having actually landed a WWII aircraft on a grass strip I'm well aware of that fact.  Those grass/dirt/coral strips were prepped, rolled, maintained so that the aircraft would not sink thru them.  The vast majority of them used marston matting/PSP so that they could support the weight of an armed aircraft.  In game we're able to takeoff and land anywhere…..

  

[Wiley]

Unless I am concluding a sortie, I never land on the runway. To rearm, I land on turf directly in line with the rearm pad. I stop on the pad.

Maybe, we need a third definition for any landing on a base wheels-up.

In other words...

Wheels down on concrete or flight deck: "Safe Landing", full perks. Kills shown in text buffer.
Wheels up/wheels down on concrete or anywhere inside the base perimeter or flight deck: "Crash Landing", 75% perks. Kills shown in text buffer.
Wheels up or wheels down in friendly territory, not on any base or flight deck: "Ditch", 50% perks. No kills shown in text buffer.

The percentages could be quibbled with, but the spirit of this idea, I like.

Wiley.

[captain1ma]

land? people land in this game?? 

[DREDIOCK]

    You should get a "Ditch" if you don't land wheels down on the Runway so you can get rolled over to the repair shop and not scooped up with a forklift.  

This.
Was about to say the same thing.
I'd favor changing only gears down landings as landings. Anything else a ditch.

[icepac]

If you want wheels, don't get them shot off.