Looking for two instructors / aggressors for ACM school

[RedBeard]

My ACM school is progressing to the point where I need to recruit a couple of pilots to participate in the school as instructors / aggressors.  This is going to be a serious school that requires a commitment to understanding the theory behind BFM and ACM and provides training to practice and apply the theory.  Students will progress through various Phases and may end or continue their education into further Phases as they choose.

I am currently working on creating the education material.  The material comes from a variety of sources, but I've been working with a retired Red Flag Fighter Weapons School instructor to figure out what needs to be covered and how.  Most of the education will be done using reading material and maybe some YouTube videos.  Instructors / aggressors will host labs in an FWS arena to practice what students learn using the education material and cover Q&A.  Instructors / aggressors will schedule mutually convenient times to meet with students and I expect labs to include about one hour of flight time with briefing and debriefing added to that.  Initial school class size will be small until the course material gets smoothed out.  Instructors / aggressors will also handle proficiency testing of students.  Instructors / aggressors may also contribute education material and ideas to the school if they desire.

A description of the various Phases can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B030JxXoTmyybEFaelViYTNXUTA/view?usp=sharing.  Not all of this exists yet, but it's the scope I expect the school to eventually cover.

There are two roles played by instructors / aggressors.  The instructor role is used to cover briefs / debriefs and coach students as they practice in the labs.  The aggressor role is used during BFM and ACM labs so the instructor can focus on the student while the aggressor plays the role of adversary.  The aggressor role is a fine line between providing a realistic adversary trying to kill a student and not being so aggressive that the student can't learn what they need to.  I prefer to recruit pilots that can operate in either role.

I currently have two instructors / aggressors (including myself) at the moment.  I'd like to get two more spun up to help iron out the course material and labs and get them familiar with training.  While it would help to already understand and practice BFM and ACM theory, instructors / aggressors will be expected to go through and learn the course material they will be covering with students.

If this sounds appealing to you, please PM me with your background and qualifications, why you want to do this, and what you expect to get out of it.

Thanks,
Red Beard

[Vudu15]

pm sent

[RedBeard]

Thanks, got it.  It's been a bit hectic this week (dealing with family member estate).

[TequilaChaser]

Good luck with this endeavor, Red Beard!

Over 15 years ago a very important person had told & asked some people if they could do something similar to what you are currently trying to create....

Badboy and I started to get the ball rolling, but never could get any others (players) on board with this

Then Badboy suggested that he and I just create it ourselves, in which we did, Badboy had wrote all of the training materials and lessons and we had 4 different levels

We had a website built/hosted and a load of other things.... A lot of time went into creating/building it

Indifferences caused this to never come to be ....we had it ready to go,

Wish you the best of luck

TC

[RedBeard]

Thanks. 

I know that the detail here is not going to be for everyone, so the desire to attend may be limited to a small group.  However, I really think that what is learned and practiced from the school will make a huge difference in the MA.  Fighting together as a trained well coordinated team is much more effective than fighting as an individual or gaggle of individuals.  Assuming that I can get the right breakdown of skills and Phases, anyone can attend (even long time veterans) and get something out of it until they are satisfied and then leave / graduate from the school or come back for more at a later date.

I'm still debating on how much the school will contribute back to the AH community at large versus students / graduates of the school.  For instance, the school will be producing Dash-1 manuals for all the aircraft, including performance charts and these will be used in the analysis and tactics Phases.  I'd like to make them available to everyone, but it seems a bit unfair to the students that put all the time and effort into the school.  I may end up leaving that decision to the students themselves, so how much material ends up on a public web site remains to be seen.

Anyway, I'm going to give it a shot and see where it all ends up and revise from there.

[TequilaChaser]

My personal opinion would be that the training manuals ( Dash-1's ) and any other documents, etc only be offered to the players that are committed to go through the complete course(s)...

TC

[The Fugitive]

Thanks. 

I know that the detail here is not going to be for everyone, so the desire to attend may be limited to a small group.  However, I really think that what is learned and practiced from the school will make a huge difference in the MA.  Fighting together as a trained well coordinated team is much more effective than fighting as an individual or gaggle of individuals.  Assuming that I can get the right breakdown of skills and Phases, anyone can attend (even long time veterans) and get something out of it until they are satisfied and then leave / graduate from the school or come back for more at a later date.

I'm still debating on how much the school will contribute back to the AH community at large versus students / graduates of the school.  For instance, the school will be producing Dash-1 manuals for all the aircraft, including performance charts and these will be used in the analysis and tactics Phases.  I'd like to make them available to everyone, but it seems a bit unfair to the students that put all the time and effort into the school.  I may end up leaving that decision to the students themselves, so how much material ends up on a public web site remains to be seen.

Anyway, I'm going to give it a shot and see where it all ends up and revise from there.

I think if the project is a labor of love that is what is going to keep you motivated more than how many people will/would benefit from it. Your talking about a lot of work for little return other than your enjoyment. I hope you have a blast doing it!  <S>

[pembquist]

My personal opinion would be that the training manuals ( Dash-1's ) and any other documents, etc only be offered to the players that are committed to go through the complete course(s)...

TC

That is one way to look at it, a reward for doing some kind of structured work and commitment. Another way to look at it might be that the more information that is out there for prospective players the more likely they are to be engaged and become/remain paying customers. I have always thought that it was a big deficit that basic aircraft performance data beyond the climb/speed charts on the web site wasn't available especially since this is a virtual flight simulator and the aircraft behave as programmed so the information is already known just not revealed.

This kind of flight school will be a great fit for some people but not most If you do successfully develop manuals and em diagrams and you end up deciding to restrict them to people who go through your entire course what are you going to do if one of those people shares the information with people who haven't?

[bustr]

Unless your bliss is to try and do a flight school like it's an FSO reality event and you don't care if anyone shows up or stays past the free coffee. Try treating this like it's a game to attract your customers. The very first thing offer to teach them a technique that will take them 15-30 minutes to learn that will immediately save their bacon in the MA the majority of they time they use it. And enable them to see an improvement quickly in their ability to shoot other game players down. Otherwise you have a tiny choir to sing to who most of them have a decade or more of experience. The newer generation coming into the game is used to cheat codes and other goodies. If you can give them a one time goodie, they will be back for more. Then you might have a chance at getting a few of them interested in your dream. The DA only ever had a small subset of the very large community of players way back when at it's height of regular use. 

This is why I never ask people what they think makes a good terrain. I listen to them talk with each other about how they use terrains and especially complain about how features on terrains impact how they use the terrain. That gives me guidelines to how players want to use their toys in our sandbox. What ever it was that skyyr gave his kiddies, it made them potent adversaries over night. He was a gamer and not concerned about the realistic aspects of our "game". So whatever he figured out, no mater how irritating, it worked for himself and whoever he gave it to quickly. That kept his kiddies coming back to him and helping him irritate the community. That is a quick success story based on treating this like a game.

[Puma44]

Some good points made.  Learning the real world type stuff demands an incredible amount of time and dedication.  Something in my experience, few have had the interest to do. Those who do have that commitment will find it rewarding.   


Check six!

                    
                        

[RedBeard]

This kind of flight school will be a great fit for some people but not most If you do successfully develop manuals and em diagrams and you end up deciding to restrict them to people who go through your entire course what are you going to do if one of those people shares the information with people who haven't?

I don't need to create a Fighter Weapons School for "most".  There is a ton of quick self-help material already out there.  This is a school for those that are bored with the MA warrior mentality and want to really understand the next level.

The training material will be copyrighted at a minimum, so sharing copyrighted material would be bad.  I've also considered unique watermarks or other things to identify the culprit if that were to happen.  It's a shame people would even consider doing stuff like this since the school really isn't refusing access to anyone.  Legal recourse would be a bit limited.  The school isn't making or losing money.  If it was an individual sharing to squad mates, what's the chance that I would take legal action other than make the shameful act public?  If it was a person using the material for some kind of monetary gain, that would be different.

I do plan to make at least one Dash-1 public as an incentive to enroll/attend and gain access to other Dash-1s as wells as to show the kind of work the school is doing.

[TequilaChaser]

The training material will be copyrighted at a minimum


I do plan to make at least one Dash-1 public as an incentive to enroll/attend and gain access to other Dash-1s as wells as to show the kind of work the school is doing.

 


TC

[FLS]

Might be tricky to copyright material you gather from "a variety of sources."

[pembquist]

I do plan to make at least one Dash-1 public as an incentive to enroll/attend and gain access to other Dash-1s as wells as to show the kind of work the school is doing.

I think that is a good idea, if I was you though I would make more of the stuff material public as: 1.) most players aren't going to really know what it means or what to do with it. 2.) It it will perk the interest of those that don't understand and make them want to learn, (prospective students for the school.) 3.) It will have the effect of making the entire game more substantial by having a source of rigorous information available to all players without regard to experience or availability of time. 4.) Players whose game play may be unable to from the information may find it interesting in its own right from a historical/technical standpoint.

I hope you don't mind me stating my two cents, it sounds like a good project.

[DaddyAce]

I think that is a good idea, if I was you though I would make more of the stuff material public as: 1.) most players aren't going to really know what it means or what to do with it. 2.) It it will perk the interest of those that don't understand and make them want to learn, (prospective students for the school.) 3.) It will have the effect of making the entire game more substantial by having a source of rigorous information available to all players without regard to experience or availability of time. 4.) Players whose game play may be unable to from the information may find it interesting in its own right from a historical/technical standpoint.

I hope you don't mind me stating my two cents, it sounds like a good project.

  all-around