New to flightsims - study/training flowchart for BMS?
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Hiya
New to sims and “study sims” as I see some flyers call this game. I saw this Falcon game at GOG and links to this forum for the BMS upgrades. I bought and installed the F4 game and then installed the BMS 4.33 without any issues.I am now overwhelmed by sheer amount of data and depth in this game. Is there a thread around here from the developers of how to start playing and training in the game for a complete novice? And by complete novice I mean COMPLETE NOVICE! haha
I do have a flight controllers; a Saitek X52 throttle and stick that I picked up at a garage sale that I also want to try and use.
thanks
:rtfm:p.s. from looking around the game it looks simply amazing! I salute all the hard working developers for keeping this game going for 17 years (?)! amazing work!
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You Tube … start there IMHO
for basic “how to do stuff” don’t discount the 4.32 videos just because you have installed 4.33 the basics are still the basics ;0)
Most on line Squadrons will accommodate basics flyers - you might take some time to get a seat on flight night but they will help you a great deal … which country are you in?
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My advice - learn to fly the jet first. Once you can handle basic aerobatics and recovering the aircraft from near stall conditions, then work on learning AA and then AG avionics.
Pick one thing at a time rather than everything at once. Sit down with specific learning goals and satisfy those goals.
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My advice - learn to fly the jet first.
Aye, concurr.
Earn your ticket to the dance. Fighting in the jet will consume all of your grey matter.
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Oh, and uninstall the original falcon 4. You only need the disc to install BMS. Unless you are planning on flying it, its just taking up HDD space.
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Basically what these guys have said, i kept loading up the RAMP START TE to get the start-up sequence down solid, now i just start from taxi and take off to work on my landings now. Don’t want to return from a long mission only to crash and burn on the runway because i can’t land it perfect yet lol. Though, i’m slightly improving…i tend to more times than others glide in too hard or too much at an angle that i hit my tail onto the deck, whoops. Practice, Practice, Practice.
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For landing, come in between 2.5 and 3 degrees glide slope. Come in at 11 degrees angle of attack. With the landing gear extended, this is with the fpm at the top of the staple. Come in with the speedbrakes extended, so the engine is throttled up a bit higher and can react faster to power changes. Between 20 and 50 feet, flare by bringing the nose up higher, but ensure the fpm stays below the horizon line - otherwise the aircraft will gain altitude again. This is called ballooning. When you flare, angle of attack should increase to 13 degrees, putting the fpm in the middle of the staple. Touchdown at 13 degrees angle of attack. After touchdown, raise the nose to between 12 and 14 degrees. Do not extend the speedbrakes past the 45 degree resting open position. This is the two point aerobraking config. At or below 100 knots, push the nose down to the ground, then once the nose wheel is on the ground, pull back on the stick fully, and extend the speedbrakes fully to the 60 degrees position. This is the 3 point aerobraking config. When necessary, apply hard to moderate brakes to slow the aircraft.
When on final for the straight in, with the landing gear extended, approaching at 11 degrees angle of attack makes the aircraft very easy to control. You control the flight path angle with the stick, and the airspeed with the throttle. Coming in at 13 degrees angle of attack, as with most civilian aircraft, you control the flight path angle with power, and airspeed with nose position. This may be more familiar but comes at a cost of speed and ease of handling.
If you are below the correct position on the staple when landing, you are too slow. If you are above the correct position on the staple, you are too fast. Being a little too fast is preferable to being a little too slow. Being on speed is preferable again.
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Thanks Bli3wolf for the pointers, i wasn’t utilizing my speedbrakes at all on approach. I have tried a few more goes and this helped keeping my AOA between 11 and 14 degrees more manageable, before i was just eye balling it and not using the tools that would probably make things easier. heh. Also, i’ve been landing from the TE RAMP START mission so my F-16 is outfitted with some AIM’s and GBU’s along with 2 370 Gallon tanks attached. Is this making it more difficult for myself? would i normally be landing back at base after a mission with that much weight and whatnot?
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Just can tell you, what works for me……
reading, studying…
1. manuals
2. youtube vids,… to get the idea
3. this forum…for specific questions
4. checking in sim
5. try to get a seat in a VFSENJOY!!
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Hiya
New to sims and “study sims” as I see some flyers call this game. I saw this Falcon game at GOG and links to this forum for the BMS upgrades. I bought and installed the F4 game and then installed the BMS 4.33 without any issues.I am now overwhelmed by sheer amount of data and depth in this game. Is there a thread around here from the developers of how to start playing and training in the game for a complete novice? And by complete novice I mean COMPLETE NOVICE! haha
I do have a flight controllers; a Saitek X52 throttle and stick that I picked up at a garage sale that I also want to try and use.
thanks
:rtfm:p.s. from looking around the game it looks simply amazing! I salute all the hard working developers for keeping this game going for 17 years (?)! amazing work!
If you want to learn for real, join a virtual fighter wing and go through their training. Some have gamer attitudes, others have simulator mindset. But reading 1000 pages and watching hour long videos may well be a boring waste of time, compared to learning from people. Much more fun flying with 25 of your friends in a big mission, who all finished the same training, compared to trying to tell the AI what to do and learning a bunch of bad habits. 1 hour of training with an experienced person will be way more valuable than 1 hour of studying and watching video alone. Lots will take you on from scratch, starting with helping you to set up the stick and throttle properly.
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Thanks Bli3wolf for the pointers, i wasn’t utilizing my speedbrakes at all on approach. I have tried a few more goes and this helped keeping my AOA between 11 and 14 degrees more manageable, before i was just eye balling it and not using the tools that would probably make things easier. heh. Also, i’ve been landing from the TE RAMP START mission so my F-16 is outfitted with some AIM’s and GBU’s along with 2 370 Gallon tanks attached. Is this making it more difficult for myself? would i normally be landing back at base after a mission with that much weight and whatnot?
It can happen. The F-16 can land at any weight as long as there is enough runway. The heavier you are, the faster you have to fly and land, and the more runway you need to land in.
Ideally you want to be able to land a clean jet just as easily as a heavyweight one. Id suggest jettisoning the tanks and GBUs and seeing how you go landing without them. You should touch down slower and stop sooner.
As far as eyeballing it, some parts of the approach work better that way. The flare for instance. I dont check the fpm in the flare, instead I have eyes outside the HUD as Im pulling up. Checking your angle of attack during the approach however, there is a tool for doing that (fpm position on staple) so I use that.
The speedbrakes are kinda a safety measure. By having them extended, you need more engine power to maintain the same descent than you do with them retracted. The engine is very fast to respond compared to a lot of big jets, but it responds fastest to throttle power changes in the upper end of its power range. The lower the throttle is, the more “lag” there is on its power changes. For adjusting your power (and thus your airspeed and therefore your angle of attack), quicker reactions to your power setting is desirable.
11 degrees is where you want to be for approach. 13 degrees can be acceptable according to the manufacturer. 14 degrees is too slow. Its not an immediate danger on approach if you dont slow down any further, but during the flare, if you touch down at 14 degrees angle of attack, you may scrape the tail very easily.
Another suggestion is to get into the habit of turning onto final for a straight in approach no later than 10 miles from the field, at 1500’ AGL. When you move on to practicing overhead or ‘initial’ approaches, do the same thing, but at 2500’ AGL, descending to 1500’ AGL over the runway.
