Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Uncle on January 07, 2003, 11:40:40 PM
-
G'day folks:
Was fortunate to score a 1 hour flight in a 51 over x-mas of which around 25 minutes was stick time. Was great fun doing rolls, wingovers and just generally flying the plane. Better than sex? The jury is still out on that one:)
Go http://www.kscoms.com.au./images/ww2/ to check out photos and video. If any of you are ever in Perth, Western Australia this http://www.wylliemustang.com.au/ the company to see about getting up in the air. They also have a T-6 for flights plus a L-38 ?? jet trainer which should be available soon.
Instead of doing a long AAR if anyone has any questions please do so and I'll answer to the best of my ability.
Cheers,
Uncle.
-
Very Cool :)
-
Are you a pilot, what did it feel like compared to your regular ride?
How much... serious question. I live in Sydney.
How are the control forces.
What does she smell like in flight?
What were the Gforces like at cruising speed in normal manouvering?
What manifold pressure does she take off at? 50?
-
Is this Fester?
How did it compare with the AH FM?
How did stalls compare?
How was the climb rate?
How was accleration?
How was manueverabilty hirzontal? Virtical?
Did you dive the A/C? Was it controllable?
How was visabilty?
Lucky Bastard!!
-
How many kills did you get in that sortie?:D
-
Uncle.....way too cool. I was fortunate enough to sit in the cockpit of a p51d this past September. Even though I wasn't moving, I felt to be the luckiest guy on the planet. You actually got to drive one. Wow. Please tell us about it. I'd much rather you wasted the bandwidth spitting out an AAR then dealing with some of the other ridiculous wastes of bandwidth seen on this BBS lately.
-
Oh my! What I would do for a flight in a P51...I bow to you!
-
especially with stick time..! drool
-
did shane call you a slobberdonkey?
-
That plane has dual controls? Or are you rated in Mustangs? If not how much real stick time do you have and what in? How did it compare etc.
Sorry but as a helo pilot and where insurance clauses means you have to take out the dual controls in expensive machines to void the risk of fools doing something stupid. I would of thought the same would go for a rare mustang.
Just curious thats all.
...-Gixer
-
dual controls I'm sure
-
Very cool Fes!
-
Pancho you lucky bastage ! That's awesome man, you'll have to tell me all about it . Shoot me an email .
-
Uncle is not fester....hes in the MAW..and lives in Aussie land...
Ive talked to fester on vox,..and uncle..def . diffrent people..
AND DAMMIT I WANT A MUSTANG!!..Willing to do bad thing for it..
I flew in a B-17G 2 summers ago...the"909"...
BEST 350$ i ever spent....didnt get to fly it..but i did sit in chin gunners seat and straffed the studmuffins sitting on the beach as we buzzed Folsom lake...
OMG I love those planes!!!
Salute uncle...u bastard:)
Love BiGB
xoxo
PS..took great digital video of my flight.in the b-17.but i was luky enuff to hit the zoom button after the first ten minuters..and all my footage is close up of rivets and cables (great Close up of Rivets in a b-17)...ARGHHHHHHHHHHH...:mad: sniffle sniffle:(
-
crap.im trying to wacth films..says cant decopress..any1 else have problems??
-
Ahh i thought Uncle was fester since the website said "Festers Day"
But anyways very cool Uncle! ;)
-
haha.. Fester has a new name! :D Cool ride, looks uber.
-
Uncle was my name in AW3 and I managed to get it here when it went thru the free trial period a few years ago. Fester's my handle in WW2OL and IL-2 hence the name in the website:)
Now for the bad news. It costs AU$1100/20 min, AU$2200/40 min and AU$3300/60 min. For you folks in the states the Aussie peso is worth roughly half what the greenback's worth.
I've got no experience with powered aircarft but have been flying gliders on and off for the last 20 years or so. After doing my first aileron roll unassisted I guess he trusted me at the controls.
Getting in the plane it was pretty tight because of the dual configuration but I can imagine it being fairly roomy as a single. Having sat in the cockpit of a Spitfire Mk5 2 years ago this is a great improvement.
On start-up as you can hear in the video the Merlin has got a beatiful throaty roar to it which Mitsu has captured quite well in his soundpacks. (I've sent them to Mitsu already) Next we do the taxing down the runway doing the zig-zag motion 'cause you can see SFA with that big nose in the way. HT's left and right views are a bit too much 'cause when you're strapped in tight you've got around 6" of head play either side.
I was really surprised during take-off as to how quick we got up in the air, it would've been less than 200 yards. As soon as we took off he fairly pointed the nose up and by this time we were doing 150 knots.
According to WA regulations we were only allowed to do 200 knots:( More on this later. The visiblity was amazing. If you try to look back your peripheral vision will just allow you to spot a bogey on your 6. HT's rear 3/4 view is pretty well spot on as to what you see in the plane itself. Mind you, this plane has no headrest to obstruct the view.
The other thing I wasn't prepared for is how loud the Merlin is. Try this- DL the barrel roll avi., crank up both your speakers and subwoofer to Max. and you'll get a good idea of how loud it is. I tried but never got to hear the landing gear go down or retract.
At the start of our first loop before we went vertical the g's hit the 4.5 mark. It was being hit by a steamroller. It took all my neck muscles to stop my head snapping back and I could feel my facial muscles starting to peel back. Neg g's were even worse 'cause they made me feel like throwing up. Even a small dose of forward stick and I could feel my breakfeast coming up. Mind you, being on the piss the night before didn't help:( Plus there must have been some fuel leakage when going inverted 'cause you could smell petrol for a minute or so afterwards.
I found the controls to be fairly stiff compared to gliders and what most game sticks have got to offer. They require positive and assertive use to get the nose pointing in the direction that you want but when it does it's like it's on rails unlike the wavering that I find in most flight sims. (Could be my stick settings though) Doing rolls was very easy, just point the nose up a bit and move the stick as you apply a bit of rudder and presto, done. Wingovers were the same, just take her into a gentle climb, roll the plane as you pull the stick back and then you're into a shallow dive. Now I've got the spring on my TM stick to hardest setting and it's very much lile the real thing.
I wasn't allowed to do loops because of the danger of me stalling the plane. Apparently the 51 can get pretty nasty when it gets out of control.
Spent the rest of the time doing turns with the wings vertical to see how much E I'd loose. I had to keep the speed above 150 but it seemed to maintain E pretty well.
Towards the end of the flight the pilot demonstrated an air-to-ground attack and by the time we got to 500 ft we were doing around 320 knots and you could start to feel the vibrations coming thru and the g's climbed as we pulled out of the dive. The acceleration in the dive was pretty bloody quick.
And now as to how it compares to our beloved sims. I can't comment on WB's, but WW2OL, IL-2 and AH do a very good job of simulating something that's very hard to simulate. Within the limits of what I was allowed to do the pony in AH seems very much like the real thing. It's impossible to judge acceleration in a sim unless you look at speedo 'cause you haven't got the g forces that really let you know how fast you're going plus the vibration as the plane speeds up. Stalls and the like aren't allowed so I can't pass comment on them.
And now to personal preferences. Personally I think that IL-2 gives me the most feeling as to what it was like for me being in a real warbird. When it comes to game play and sheer fun AH is hard to beat, so that's what I play most of the time.
And now for a thank you to my sponsors- The M.A.W's and all those other wonderful gentlemen flying for a just cause and all that is decent in this world- the Knights!:D
The written word isn't my strong point so I apologise for not being as articulate as I would've liked.
BGB, try using Quicktime to open them because that's what my camera uses to process the video.
Uncle.
-
And now to personal preferences. Personally I think that IL-2 gives me the most feeling as to what it was like for me being in a real warbird. When it comes to game play and sheer fun AH is hard to beat, so that's what I play most of the time.
Many people without flying a real aircraft come to that same conclusion. The AH numbers would agree.
Good read.
-
Cool stuff. I bet many of us are jealous, I know I am.
-
very sweet Uncle...i want a ride !!!!!!!!!!!
I will try the Quik time ...thx..Try2 was also having problmes running the video...
Salute
Love
BiGB
xoxo
-
BGB, you must me thinking of someone else cause I just looked at this today and had no problems.
-
I flew in a B-17G 2 summers ago...the"909"...
BGBMAW, I actually flew the "909" six years ago before they stopped letting you fly them. It cost $500(which you can write off)and it was worth every penny. I got about 15 minutes stick time and we were flying over Puget Sound. After flying straight for a few minutes, the pilot(I was in the co-pilot's seat)said bring her around, we're headed back to the field. The yoke was a little stiff, but after a little effort, I dropped the port wing and brought her 180 degrees about. Needless to say, I had the biggest "woody" of my life.
My buddy was behind me filming the whole thing and I have pictures also. There's a museum in Olympia, Washington that has a Mustang and they'll let you fly as a passenger behind the pilot(they removed all the radio gear)and that is $500 for just 20 minutes. Maybe some day I'll do that one. They also have a Corsair that they give rides in along with a Skyraider.
Stony
1st Nasty(and a Knight also)
:D
-
that i ssweet i didnt know they used to let u fly the "909"... Thwe pilot that was flying with us..he fle LO the Whole time..really was kik ass..we strafed the lake..and he was banking hard...really really worth everypenny....
Dam $500 for 20 minutes...Ouch,.,,,,But i would defntly do it ...I need an hour tho...$2,000.!!!..oo im gonna have to rob som ..1..lolo
Ok..Try2..must have been Ice who said he had the problem..I was too bust killn the 5 Bish or Rook that "tried" to jump me...
hehehe
BiGB
xoxo
-
I dl'ed Quick time and still cant get it to work :(
-
2stony:
Do us all a big favour and post those photos and video ASAP. Hanging out to have a look at the insides of a 17!
It looks like the prices in the states are the same as here in Oz, so go for it BGB.
-
Wow! I just looked at this thread - VERY cool!
I start my CFI classes soon - hope I get a shot in the next few years at an aircraft as beautiful as that one! :eek:
-
I can't decompress these at work, I'll ahve to try at home with a updated media player.
I almost did this same thing in California for $650/hour. Mayby when I finish school and get a job flying for the USPS (hopefully, or airlines) I will be able to afford this fun stuff :-)
Booky
-
I too was presented with an opportunity to take a P-51 flight last summer at the NW-EAA's Fly-in at Arlington, WA.
As for AH, IL-2, etc simulating flight: well, no desktop flight sim really does. The biggest difference is the effect of G forces followed by how much more you can see at one time. A computer screen gives too much of a "soda straw" view effect even in AH's excellent view system. Stick forces also vary wildy from slow to fast flight (from zero force when stopped to dozens of lbs. of force past 300mph) in the P-51. No autopilot or autotrim either. Airplane emergencies don't really matter in the sim but the risk losing that big Merlin could mean a crash landing and potentially life threatening injuries. Hard to simulate that. Still, the flight was simply amazing.
Here's one of the shots I took:
(http://www.avphoto.com/arlington2002/p51invert.jpg)
MiG
-
Sorry guys but my host for the videos and photos has pulled the plug on me because of bandwidth problems:(
-
Originally posted by brendo
Are you a pilot, what did it feel like compared to your regular ride?
What does she smell like in flight?
AVGAS baby :D
-
Originally posted by Creamo
And now to personal preferences. Personally I think that IL-2 gives me the most feeling as to what it was like for me being in a real warbird. When it comes to game play and sheer fun AH is hard to beat, so that's what I play most of the time.
Many people without flying a real aircraft come to that same conclusion. The AH numbers would agree.
Good read.
Il2 is harder work to fly, much like a real aircraft.
AH flight model and feel are just as right on as IL2S is
except I think HTC took out some of the work of flying out of the FM.
Like the constant corrections the sky makes you do.
I think AHs FM could be closer to real but I think people would whine about how "hard" it is to Fly the sim/game.
Factor in some crosswinds around those mountains and a lot of nose bounce and some other choice pitfalls and see how fun it is to fly. It will wear you out in an hour. I dont come here to work I come here to play.
IL2 seems to simulate the "work" of flying better than AH because it makes my wrists and shoulders hurt.
I think they are close in FMs with IL2 having more settings turned on than AH
Either one of them can teach you some basic flight knowledge.
I find that a sim will make you lazy as a real pilot and can also
teach you bad things :)
like long shallow finals :eek:
;)