Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Wishlist => Topic started by: STEELE on October 28, 2011, 12:16:41 AM

Title: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: STEELE on October 28, 2011, 12:16:41 AM
I wish we could access climbrate andspeed charts for the plane we are flying while in the air, that way we know what alt is the best, ect.
Title: Re: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: MachFly on October 28, 2011, 12:18:28 AM
You do know that you can scroll down the game and look it up, right?


I'm against this idea because it's not realistic, in reality you never look at your performance charts in the air.
Title: Re: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: Krusty on October 28, 2011, 12:46:41 AM
in reality you never look at your performance charts in the air.

In reality you only flew one plane for a very prolonged period of time and knew all the charts by HEART (or you died in combat for not knowing your ride's capabilities!!). In here, we sample all the rides, and we can't remember all the charts all the time.
Title: Re: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: MachFly on October 28, 2011, 01:16:25 AM
In reality you only flew one plane for a very prolonged period of time and knew all the charts by HEART (or you died in combat for not knowing your ride's capabilities!!). In here, we sample all the rides, and we can't remember all the charts all the time.

True you do normally fly one airplane for a long period of time, but when you do have to take something up for a flight or two you look at the chats before. Remember it's not like these are fifth gen. fighters that you have to be spending a year studding for before your first flight, overall our aircraft are not that different. Just the fact that you want to look in the chart in the air means you care about getting the best performance, so why not look at it before the flight? Maybe you'll think "this thing sucks and will make me fail my mission".
Title: Re: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: DMVIAGRA on October 28, 2011, 05:49:23 AM
In reality you only flew one plane for a very prolonged period of time and knew all the charts by HEART (or you died in combat for not knowing your ride's capabilities!!). In here, we sample all the rides, and we can't remember all the charts all the time.
This is the reason I fly the P-47, as you go up it gets faster. Most simple toughest plane in the game that is comparable to a Hell Cat.

I have also flown the P-40s, they're quite unique in their charts. The odds of you remembering them are nimm...
Title: Re: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: RTHolmes on October 28, 2011, 07:41:58 AM
+1 just for the aircraft you're flying :aok


surely WWII pilots would have a bunch of aircraft-specific charts with them for fuel range/duration etc? :headscratch:
Title: Re: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: MachFly on October 28, 2011, 07:46:49 AM
surely WWII pilots would have a bunch of aircraft-specific charts with them for fuel range/duration etc? :headscratch:

Unless you have a 2nd pilot your not going to be looking at the charts. The only thing you have accessible to you in the cockpit when your flying alone is the checklist, you should not be reading any books.
Title: Re: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: RTHolmes on October 28, 2011, 07:52:39 AM
really? no maps, charts or anything? across all airforces and aircraft types? :headscratch:
Title: Re: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: MachFly on October 28, 2011, 08:13:07 AM
really? no maps, charts or anything? across all airforces and aircraft types? :headscratch:

Well you have maps but you don't have performance charts. Maps are a lot faster and easier to read than performance charts.

example:

Here is an example of a take off, climb, and landing chart for a P-51:
(http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/893/86347341.jpg)

Also realize that you need to find it in a book that has 100+ pages.


70 years later....if did not get much easier to read. Here is a take off chart for a DA42:
(http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/3313/59154878.jpg)


So you really don't want to be looking at this stuff in the cockpit unless you have a 2nd pilot.
Title: Re: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: SmokinLoon on October 28, 2011, 09:26:07 AM
You do know that you can scroll down the game and look it up, right?


I'm against this idea because it's not realistic, in reality you never look at your performance charts in the air.

Um... I know for a fact that pilots referenced charts all the time.  Especially bomber pilots.  Remember that out in the PTO, where there were vast areas of nothing but open water and no landmarks, a pilot relied heavily on multiple compasses, maps, fuel consumption charts, wind charts, etc etc etc.  That was the another reason that aircraft simply did NOT take off without as much fuel as they could carry in the PTO, it was common to miss the airfield on the return flight because the navigator was off by 40 miles on his map.     

The AH Trainer's website has most of the charts available to print off, it is current up to about 2-2.5 years ago.
Title: Re: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: RTHolmes on October 28, 2011, 09:43:24 AM
It would be interesting to know what RL fighter pilots generally carried. the RAF pilot notes are pocket sized and 30-40pages but I never thought they would be carried with them because they contain alot of very basic stuff, I imagine they were just for basic conversion training.

whatever they carried IRL doesnt matter much though, unlike RL in AH most people fly loads of different aircraft which they dont know very well (which is to be encouraged :)) and giving them a reminder of their own aircrafts FTH isnt a really gamebreaker.
Title: Re: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: wil3ur on October 28, 2011, 09:50:13 AM
I think it's not a bad idea personally... but I think the E6B already accomplishes much of what our 'Charts' would show us.  The only advantage I see for this, and it's really a mute point in here, would be for Carrier hunting.  If you can get a general idea of what a planes maximum range is if you spot it in the air, you can say, "Well, most likely there's a carrier within 200 miles of here, maybe 300 if they're being easy on fuel."  Since we don't deal with huge distances and hours of nothing in here, I can't see it being a huge benefit.

You could always print them up...  :aok
Title: Re: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: MachFly on October 28, 2011, 09:51:52 AM
Um... I know for a fact that pilots referenced charts all the time.  Especially bomber pilots.  Remember that out in the PTO, where there were vast areas of nothing but open water and no landmarks, a pilot relied heavily on multiple compasses, maps, fuel consumption charts, wind charts, etc etc etc.  That was the another reason that aircraft simply did NOT take off without as much fuel as they could carry in the PTO, it was common to miss the airfield on the return flight because the navigator was off by 40 miles on his map.     

The AH Trainer's website has most of the charts available to print off, it is current up to about 2-2.5 years ago.

I'm sure bomber pilots used charts because they had more than one pilot and they could do it. You can't do it when your flying alone. Maps are always used to nothing special there. Why would you need fuel consumption charts? You do the math before you take off and when your already flying you know how much fuel time you'll have for cruise and how long you can afford to stay in combat. There is no such thing as wind charts, winds get updated all the time and in the 40s you could not get such an actuate forecast so you could not really compensate for wind well, that's the reason a lot of pilots were getting lost.
So if you have one pilot on board the only thing you have is a map and a checklist.  
Title: Re: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: MachFly on October 28, 2011, 09:54:40 AM
but I think the E6B already accomplishes much of what our 'Charts' would show us. 

Oh yeah, the electronic E6B is a significant help.
Title: Re: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: colmbo on October 28, 2011, 01:36:08 PM
I'm sure bomber pilots used charts because they had more than one pilot and they could do it. You can't do it when your flying alone. Maps are always used to nothing special there. Why would you need fuel consumption charts? You do the math before you take off and when your already flying you know how much fuel time you'll have for cruise and how long you can afford to stay in combat. There is no such thing as wind charts, winds get updated all the time and in the 40s you could not get such an actuate forecast so you could not really compensate for wind well, that's the reason a lot of pilots were getting lost.
So if you have one pilot on board the only thing you have is a map and a checklist.  

machfly I sometimes wonder just how much flight time you have.

I sure as heck had performance information available when I was flying.  The POH for light aircraft covers it, fits in the map box and it just isn't that big of a deal to look something up even if you are the only pilot.

Sure, you "do the math" before takeoff but sometimes things change.   Weather moves in, the alternate goes to heck and you start working out where to go, how to get there and if you can get there.  All that math you did before the flight goes out the window as soon as things change, you better have the performance info where you can get to it.

Quote
So if you have one pilot on board the only thing you have is a map and a checklist.  

If this is true the pilot is an idiot.
Title: Re: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: MachFly on October 28, 2011, 02:30:37 PM
machfly I sometimes wonder just how much flight time you have.

I sure as heck had performance information available when I was flying.  The POH for light aircraft covers it, fits in the map box and it just isn't that big of a deal to look something up even if you are the only pilot.

Sure, you "do the math" before takeoff but sometimes things change.   Weather moves in, the alternate goes to heck and you start working out where to go, how to get there and if you can get there.  All that math you did before the flight goes out the window as soon as things change, you better have the performance info where you can get to it.

If this is true the pilot is an idiot.

The POH is in the plane because it's required by the FAA and in case if I need it when I stop some where. I'm aint going to be reading it in flight, there are far more important things to do. If you have to take out the POH in flight you really screwed up at something. You fly the plane, scan for traffic, and look where your heading, you don't fly around with your head down and locked reading a book.

Regarding diversions you do that in your head. You know how much fuel you burn at that altitude and power setting, you know how much fuel you have left, and you can get the rest from the sectionals or low alt charts. There is absolutely no reason to get the POH if you need to divert.
Title: Re: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: Tank-Ace on October 29, 2011, 09:17:01 PM
You could always print them up...  :aok

I have a quick reference book I made. It has the speed and climb charts for each plane on one page, as acceleartion to 350mph or max speed hand-writen next to it's altitude on the climb chart.

Penetration charts for GV's, and a simplified armor thickness chart.


Tabs for GVs on the top, and planes on the side, countries are color coded.
Title: Re: Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight
Post by: chaser on October 30, 2011, 09:11:54 AM
+1. I would love to be able to look at my performance charts while up. But as mentioned earlier it should only be for the plane your in and not every plane.