Lend a hand

[Big Rat]

I think some need to get a little experience under their belt before thay can even comprehend what a trainer can teach them.

So do you spend time in the T/A, or get some time in the M/A so you can determine what you most need to work on?

We have trainers that are good at teaching the basics and those that are good at teaching the more advanced stuff.  Going from the gammet of how to take off, to teaching a split S into a barrell roll defence.  So I think trainers can be helpfull at any stage, and are far under utilized by the general aces high population.  

I spend most of my time in the TA, normally work for an hour a day mostly with the hog.  I have a couple of students I'm working with mostly on tues. and thur. nights (I'm not an official trainer but I enjoy helping others).  What do I work on normally myself, mostly stall recovery and pushing the envelope of what it will and won't do.  If you push it beyond it's limit enough times it teaches you two things. One, where the limit is and two, how to recover quickly from passing it.  Both important in a close quarters fight.  I know what I need to work on in the normal MA's, but training can't fix stupid , becouse that's how I normally get myself killed.  Those that know me and fly against me in the TA know I can handle myself in a hog exremely well, so when I die in an aircraft in the MA's it's normally an SA mistake, or I was trying to accomplish the mission (eg. I know there are five fighters over the vbase but I'm dropping that VH with my A20 full of eggs anyway).  Or my most likely cause of death trying to save a squaddie who already did something silly.  I've had months where I get the 3-5 k/d ratio, but that was a different kind of fighting where I tended not to put myself in poor positions, and tended to come into fights with superior E advantage and always had an exit plan.  I don't fight as "smart" now as I used to but I have more fun and am a far better stick now then I was with the much higher K/D ratios of years past.  So I'm kinda like my German Shepard in the fact that I know what I should be doing, but I don't alwayd do it.  How do I know my German Shepard knows what he should be doing at all times, simple if I put the shock collar on him he does everything perfect (I never even turn it on, battery shot craps years ago but he remembers it from a puppy ).

I just reread your post and I think I took your question the wrong way.  I thought you were talking specifically me in the TA or MA, but now that I reread it I think you were going for a general question as to where to learn what you are doing wrong.  I'm of the belief that you should learn as much about something as you can before jumping in.  So I think spending time in the TA is where you should start.  Get the basics as far as dogfighting, following a target with your views, learning what an aircraft will and won't do compared to others, etc, should be the first step.  Then head to the MA's, this way when you start to get beat you can better understand why you got beat (if you didn't see how the guy got on your six, it's pretty hard to figure out a counter to it). Also you will be better able to tell trainers what happened and what problem you had.  This way they can better teach you how to remedy the situation in the future.  There's not just trainers in the TA, people in their run the gammett from noobs to old vets, a lot of the best sticks in the game come in there from time to time, and most are very willing to talk and help you with problems (especially if it is their preferred aircraft).     

 
BigRat

    

[SEraider]

Hate to say it sir, but that statement is inaccurate...  I happen to know someone who shares those views, so they're not only yours.  You'll just have to share!   

I think it's great that so many in here are willing to help others enjoy the game, by helping them learn the various aspects.  There's so much to learn, and so few that are willing and able to teach.

When it comes to the stall limiter, etc, I can say from experience that it's often more difficult to teach someone the "right" way to do things, when habits have already been formed by doing things the "wrong" way.

Specifically with the stall limiter, I've had several lessons that were basically "wasted" because someone came to me to learn better combat skills, and I found they had the limiter enabled and had been using it for some time.  Right away, on the first merge, it's obvious what's going on, and they'll never be able to compete at the level they're striving for with the limiter enabled.  I explain, and they disable it.  Merge #2, and guess what, they're flopping into the ground, because they have habits already formed.  They don't know how to fly the "edge", and don't know how to recover when they step across it.

At that point, we're no longer looking at learning "advanced" combat, but are back to basics, with the person just following me around, learning the edge, and learning to recover.  That's ok, I'll work with pretty much any skill level lower or equal to my own, but it sure feels like a big step backward, instead of the anticipated step forward.  And how long will it take to become comfortable with the absence of the limiter?  And when can we re-schedule a meeting?

It's even worse when we do re-schedule, and I immediately find that my student has re-enabled the limiter, because he/she was having too much difficulty with it disabled.  Now what?

When you talk of ACM's, that is a valid point.  But even then, it really depends on the priority of the palyer itself.

What I mean is when I 1st started playing, my concern was not so much ACM's, but bombing, dive bombing, BnZ; basic role playing kinda stuff.  When I was ready to move on to more challenging things, then I took the limiter off. 

My point is that the curve for a new player is high enough and pushing that edge is really unessary for the 1st few months until they can handle 'higher' education. 

I just wonder if stall limiter was not there, how many new players would be discouraged and quit?  What does the community think??

[pipz]

In reference to the pyramid you guys were talking about.
I just watched a show where a pilot who flew F86s in Korea was being interviewed.He said around 10% of the guys wanted to get in there and kill migs another 10% would get some kind of mechanical trouble and go home early and the other 80% were more or less along for the ride.I have also read that it is usually a small number of pilots racking up most of the kills.This seems to hold true for any air force you look at even over different conflicts.Its interesting that our stats seem to mirror this.Considering its just a game and our lives are not on the line I would have thought it to be different.I would have thought that the kills would be spread out a lot more in AH.


Pipz

[Shuffler]

When I am killed I tend to spread out over a large area...