Is AH a Technical Skill or Intiution?

[Kronos]

I am curious....

I am what Iron Eagle I defines as "a fly by the seat of my pants" kind of guy.  now I know that Iron eagle has nothing to do with reality.. Ok thats a given.

Here's my question though :

Do you fly by the instruments that AH provides, or by the seat of ur pants?  (meaning relying just exactly on what you see?)

Once again, I have gone into a major slump.  I am trying to figure out what im doing wrong, so far to no avail.  I thought it might be my stick, as my X36 was gettting old, and not all of the views were working, plus I had upgraded to winXP which was a headache of all its own.

HOwever, the other day, I recieved my X45 and all my view problems went away.  Although that did help a bit, it seems my fundamental problem remains.   I AM BEING killed much more than I am dying.  Now I am not the best, never have been, never will be, but in the 2 years I've been flying AH, ive managed to hold my own.    

I have always used my SA as my primary means of figuring out what to do.  I very rarely look at my instruments, and I don't worry about whether I am turning at my optimal speed  or not.   But lately as ive gone into this slump i want to look at my gauges more closely, but when I do, my SA goes out the window.  (Seems I cant do 2 things at once  )  

What I want to know is, do most people fly by looking through their views, or do they read their instruments to tell them when to turn or extend or do some off the wall manuevar I can't counter?

(one other thing I've noticed is people have gotten real good at turning in a direction I least expect while I am engaged in blackout)  Yes I know this means I'm turning too hard, but when I don't turn so hard, its very diffucult to remain on an enemies six .

[Bluedog]

Instruments? what are they?
Dunno about anyone else, but about the only instrument I use regularly would be the 'G meter'....accellerometer .....to get an accurate 0G dive happening.
Apart from that, I check my altimeter every now and then to make sure I still quallify as an Alt Monkey, and maybe my compass every now and then, so's I know roughly where I am going.

I allmost never use the air speed indicator, I judge my E state and speed by the volume of the wind sound more than by looking at a gauge.
And all that is just flying around....in an actual fight, my eyes are glued to the target/s, and never stray down to look at instruments.

In a bomber, especially if flying with a few squaddies in formation, I make much use of the instrument panel to get accurate throttle settings, both RPM and manifold pressure, making it much easier for the guys to form up and stay there.

Probably not all that helpfull to you Kronos, but thats what I do mate
\
Cyas up.

[Wlfgng]

A little of both mixed with education.

[ergRTC]

very good question,

never really thought about it much.  I guess it depends on the activity.  I also tend to print out the charts of planes I commonly run into (which is easy in the ct).  

I look at my guages alot when I am bnzing.  In fact I rely on them entirely.  Maneuvering in any plane when you are bouncing somebody is bad news, but I like to know what my options are.  If you are bouncing them and at high alt that means they can probably maneuver much better than you.  Your blacking out problem is probably related to that.  Rarely do I get into situations like you describe, but only because I try not to  dogfight good axis turners with allied planes that behave well only at speed. e.g a f4u will turn with a 109 but only at 250 and if your blacking out while the 109 will turn fine at 200 and not black out (pulling this out of my arse but you get the gist).  I guess the best example is a ufo, I mean niki.

In a dogfight, I rarely pay any attention.  It is all about anticipating the enemy's next move.  That is where the ma blows chunks.  In the CT after a few days you tend to know what the enemy can and cant or shouldn't do.  Then you can start playing chess with them. THis changes every week of course and you have to learn all over.  In the ma there are just too many plane combinations, and it becomes arcade.  Pilots during the war excelled because they knew there enemies and they knew the planes they were flying.  

The fact that anybody can take a p51 or p47 or 190 up in the ma and sit around and bounce till their hearts desire is a testiment of the gaminess of the whole thing.  Thinking about strat in the ma makes my head hurt.  Looking at gauges is irrelivent at that point.  

erg

p.s. I think hitech would even respect those spelling errors!

[Nomde]

1. I don't read any of the charts, but rely solely on my experience with the various planes encountered and which tactics worked best. As matter of priority, there are more important things to concider.
2. I'll pay attention to my speed and E state and will just feel my G forces - when I have a small visible area and the rest is black, i'm in harmony with my plane.
3. SA around you is imperitive, screw always watching the dials, time is better spent looking around and listening to your engine.
4. Pick your fight, don't engage unless you have advantage or a good chance of survivability.
5. Know the pro's and con's of your plane and use em to your advantage.

IMHO

[Swoop]

Kro,

you use snap view only dont ya?

[Hortlund]

The only one I always use is the speed meter. I mostly fly LW rides, and in those, speed is ..eh..kinda important.

But the primary reason I'm looking at that meter so often is because it tells me when I can do that immelmann or when I would just make myself an easykill-stalling-victim.

[SC-Sp00k]

Rudder, Ammo Readout, Compass and the Gear Lights are the only instruments I use.  

SA and patience. Flying your aircraft to its strengths and choose your enemy before he chooses you.

That sums up my successes. When I deviate from the above. Its sums up my losses.

[Swoop]

There's an instrument display for rudder?  

[Hortlund]

Originally posted by Swoop
There's an instrument display for rudder?  

I use the one where you can see if your airplane is skidding or whatever its called in english. You know, the one where you see if you are flying in a straight line or not.

[Kronos]

yes Swoop, I use snap views only.

[Revvin]

I believe you mean the slip indicator Hortlund.

[Widewing]

Hey Kronos,

I scan my instruments frequently. Indeed, the key is to learn how to scan them. By scan, I mean a very quick glance, scanning across the entire panel. Learning to process the information a quick scan provides takes some time, but anyone can learn the method. Those of you who fly for fun and/or profit probably know how to do this. Military pilots are taught this early in their training. It is essential, because one cannot afford to be flying in combat with their "head in the cockpit". This is why modern fighters have heads-up displays. Important flight data is right in the line of sight. Since we don't have HUDs, you may need to learn how to do an efficient instrument scan. It's not unlike speed reading, where you read paragraphs, rather than just sentences.

Go offline and fly around, practice reading your instruments by glance. Make note of what you could and could not determine. Practice and practice some more. You WILL get the hang of it, and when you do, you will find that it greatly improves your overall SA. It's really not unlike doing an outside scan, where you make note of all the aircraft around you, their alt and E, and whether they are a threat or not.

My experience is that you are a very good pilot, so flying skills are not an issue. I suspect that you have been a victim of circumstances more than anything else. Mathman had a bit of slump recently. However, I  believe that he stuck to what worked for him in the past, and came out of it with a vengence! Again, in his case I suspect it was just bad luck and circumstance. You will turn it around too, I'm confident of it.

Good luck.

Widewing

[Swoop]

Ah I see what you mean.  I dont use that at all after take off, I just *know* how much I'm skidding by how far I'm deflecting the rudder (how far ya twist the stick or push the pedals, depending on your set up). Know what I mean?  I dont need an instrument to show me how far I'm deflecting rudder cos *I'M* the one deflecting it.  Once you're in trim it's automatic and getting in trim is really a no brainer with the autopilot modes.


Instruments I use in a fight:

Airspeed.  V important to KNOW if you've got enough E to make it over the top.
Ammo counters.  Kinda a no brainer this one, since you've gotta look forward to shoot and the ammo counters are usually in the frame.
Altimeter.  Know your plane, know what alt is best for the bugger, know what alt the wing layers are at and make your zoom climbs through wind layers in the correct direction to get the tail wind boost.  Oh....and knowing what alt the ground is at may help as well.
ROC indicator.  Following a bogey in an E fight I try to stay as level as possible, I dont wanna climb and lose E and I dont wanna dive and give up more alt atvantage.  
Fuel gauge?  Worth a look now and again.....


I moved my head position back in all planes to get a better view of the instruments, all shooting is done in zoom mode and all dogfighting is done zoomed out.  I also use a mix of pan view and snap view.  Pan to follow a bandit through manouvers cos when you're blacking out ya cant see bogeys on the edge of the screen, only in the exact center.....so I use pan to keep the bogey in the exact center.  To shoot and/or check instruments F1 snaps you back to forward view.....and automatically puts you in snap view mode so ya can quickly check 6 as well.

[Ghosth]

Turn engine sound down, turn wind sound up.
Don't look at airspeed, Listen to it.!

Gauges are for landing, or a quick glance to check alt.