I was setting up AH on my vista partition this morning and happened to film these two clips. It's an interesting film study because its the same two planes and pilots in similiar circumstances (filmed on back to back sorties). I've been flying the a-20 as my primary ride this month and have made some pretty good progress overall. In the 1st fight I just get "bled out"....which is pretty typical when I face someone who's being agressive but maintaining an "E fighting" mentality. One of the epiphanies (sp) along the way as you "grow" in AH is just how much of a fight is ACM dependent. I view it as an "ACM ball" mentally. If I can keep the fight inside that ball I can worry more about relative positioning/speed/total E/angles etc....
Once I get "outside the ball" then the focus shifts to plane vs plane. In the 1st fight I simply make the wrong choices and run out of options (given my personal limit of ACM understanding). So as I fly out I'm kind of game planning....
The 2nd fight is flown differently. I'll comment on a couple of things. Early on you can see a point where I "refuse" the rope and have the 38 in various "up" views and try and alter the midgame....
We end up in close to a repeat and you'll see me bail out (extend) to reset what I feel is a repeat of "round 1"....when we reengage I alter my endgame even more then in the 1st part....setting up chance to use one of my few advantages (zoom) to give me a solution....
Round 1 Round 2 I'm sure that he'd have adjusted as well and I'd have probably lost the next one. The purpose here is to highlight how variations in ACM and application there of effect outcome. It's a fine edge between winning and losing. Thats why (for me at least) the guys who own me tend to own me regardless of what plane we happen to be flying.
If your primarily flying around in a "plane ball" start working on your "ACM ball"....you'll have more fun, win more fights and care less about ENY or what the other guy is in.
**** comment on "zoom"****....alot of folks overlook the benifit of "zoom" (the ability to gain & retain E) as it relates to the end game. Just a few hundred feet of alt can create enough "pop" to reenable the vertical or allow you to regain the initiative.
