Climbrate/Speed charts available in flight

[STEELE]

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.

[MachFly]

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.

[Krusty]

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.

[MachFly]

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".

[DMVIAGRA]

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...

[RTHolmes]

+1 just for the aircraft you're flying


surely WWII pilots would have a bunch of aircraft-specific charts with them for fuel range/duration etc?

[MachFly]

surely WWII pilots would have a bunch of aircraft-specific charts with them for fuel range/duration etc?

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.

[RTHolmes]

really? no maps, charts or anything? across all airforces and aircraft types?

[MachFly]

really? no maps, charts or anything? across all airforces and aircraft types?

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:


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:



So you really don't want to be looking at this stuff in the cockpit unless you have a 2nd pilot.

[SmokinLoon]

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.

[RTHolmes]

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.

[wil3ur]

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... 

[MachFly]

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.  

[MachFly]

but I think the E6B already accomplishes much of what our 'Charts' would show us. 

Oh yeah, the electronic E6B is a significant help.

[colmbo]

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.

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.