So with the nearing release of the Strike Eagle I was wondering… how about a matrix of people willing to cover Multi-Crew roles for DCS planes?
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I’m interested. Unfortunately, RL prevents me from being a good crew or wingman because I might have to jump out of a session at any moment. I don’t think it’s fair to people, so I continue to fly solo.
I used to do multiplayer sessions back in my old Air Warrior, Falcon 3 days. Back then I could fly at any time.
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I’d be happy to learn the gunner (or pilot) stuff alone for the Apache or Hind if I had a regular opposite number to fly with or could do the part regularly (i.e. with any other crewman not just the same one). Having to learn both roles has put me off those helicopters - only done the very basics in the Apache and nothing at all in the Hind. Dunno if multiplayer is possible in the Gazelle - I’d do gunner in that as I know what I’m doing. Or I’d fly if someone else wanted to do gunner.
Can’t think of any other two-role crew places in the sim (except door gunner maybe, but that’s not exactly my thing). Not with the modules I own, anyway.
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There’s a lot to do for the F-14 RIO…
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Hey @Johnny ! Looks like we’re a match.
I own and enjoy flying:
- Hind
- Gazelle
- F-14
When it was just released, I did turn some switches in the Hind front pit to fire and aim Atakas and I feel I could relearn that quickly. Similar for Gazelle, though the way the camera moves with the slightest attitude changes made it difficult for me in the past. Hoping that changes soon with the big update.
I have not flown the F-14 a lot, but I could function as a “slightly-better-than-autopilot” dumb frontseater if the RIO manages me properly. I can land the F-14 OK-ish.
Central European timezone, I tend to fly a little early in the evenings (19:30 - 22:30 window).
However, my availability is a bit limited these next 3 weeks especially. It should get better after that.
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I don’t own the F-14 though. I didn’t have a big interest in it and considering the price for an aircraft I knew I wouldn’t fly much if at all, I decided to pass.
I’m currently struggling with flying but things are slowly improving. I also had a quick look just after release of the Hind and actually started the start-up tutorial mission, but had difficulty accessing some switches etc in VR and decided to leave it. That was the only time I did anything with it. I can have another look at that soon.
In fact I’ll start reading the manuals, and go from there.
Your timings are good 
PS - I wasn’t planning to buy the F-4E, but if I had a “stable” pilot - or navigator I s’pose ( I originally wanted to be a navigator in the RAF when I was a young teenager so that would be fun! Also had a friend at Wildenrath who was a navigator and showed me round his office in the FGR.2) I’d be willing to grab it.
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I have an unhealthy obsession with the F-14 and carrier traps, but my timezone is whack. It’s like 3~4am here when everyone in the EU and US are flying online 
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Carrier ops have just never really tickled my fancy. STOL ops yes, but not carrier stuff. I have been tempted on occasion, but it never went further than that. Having said that I did buy Supercarrier on release, but I haven’t used it once! 
*I did imagine myself using it with my Harrier - but I dropped that after it all seemed to go pear-shaped and now I think there’s too much to learn with it (the Harrier).
Would still like to do it, but I struggle a bit more these days with remembering complex systems. The A-10C is fine, as are one or two others, but I think the Harrier is a step too far for me now. Took me long enough to admit that to myself. Same with Viggen.
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The viggen isnt actually that bad. Nowhere near as complicated as i thought it would be. The mission is loaded on the tape before you launch and you just have to hit the timing and pickle pretty much.
Its one of my favourite DCS aircraft for solo flight. Fly low. Fly way way to fast. Pull up, pull right to see target on left, roll into it, drop hell and haul ass under the trees. Its FUN as hell
Much much easier than all this MFD nonsense. Tomcats easier to learn as well in my view. I hate MFD aircraft when flying online. I haven’t got the mental capacity to remember the sequences. I am very much a press big red button to shoot this sort of flyer.
Sabre. Tomcat. Mig 19 and viggen. Perfection
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I thought the Viggen probably wasn’t as difficult as it seemed - I just never found a way to learn it that clicked for me. I must admit I don’t like the manual for it and the videos I’ve watched demanded more memory capacity than I have available.
I always found the best way to learn new aircraft was to find someone else who wanted to learn it and go online together flying missions. What one doesn’t know or hasn’t found in the manual yet, the other often has, so just share the info and have some fun practising on the server. Or find what we need to gen up on so that chances are by the next session one of us has learned it.
Much more fun that way - and tends to stick. Even better in a small group.
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I really want to learn viggen. I have it in my hangar since forever. I can do basic things with it, but haven’t ever flown a strike.
Part of that is that I tend to learn my modules basic functions from the interactive training flights. Viggens’ are pretty darn bare and gloss over a lot of stuff. Compare that to Harrier’s and it’s night and day.
I don’t mind me an MFD at all. I run hog refreshers at least once a fortnight and spend a lot of time in viper, hornet and harrier. I am rather rusty on some of the cooler things in harrier though.
Putting an lesbian gay bomb on some vatnik’s ride is just so satisfying. Almost as good as shacking the fokker with a string of unguided hate or blasting his general zip code in rocket fire.
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In the Hind you or only missing being able to launch ATGM’s if you are flying and ignore the front seater. The Petrovich AI is actually decent, and relatively simple to use to shoot things. Or just ignore it and shoot rockets and the big cannon from the back seat, I have entirely too much fun doing the later usually. The Apache does get some extra functionality by using the front seater AI (I forget what they call it) in terms of being able to lock on targets for longer range rocket attacks and ATGM’s, but again if you just want to blast things with rockets and the 30mm, you can completely ignore the front seat.
I think they fixed the ground stab in the HOT sight a few patches ago, I’ll be honest I haven’t flown that version in a while so I may be incorrect.
Nah, the Harrier is pretty simple to work with. If you can fly the A-10C you can definitely handle the Harrier. Worst case, load up iron bombs and rockets, and go CCIP. The VSTOL part is simple in theory, it just takes practice (which is half the fun). If you think of it as an overpowered A-4 with a CCIP mode, you won’t be far off. Even adding in JDAM’s and the TGP pod is pretty simple, it was designed for Marines afterall (I kid, I kid…)
The trick with the Viggen is don’t worry about trying to understand how to do everything in it all at the same time. It is from the era of “do 1 thing at 1 time.” You are never going to need to know how to drop bombs and shoot anti-ship missiles in the same sortie. The vast majority of munitions in the Viggen are setup with a total of 3 rotating switches, and dropping them consists of “put the thing on the thing and pull the trigger when the thing under it flashes.” Also remember you can always fly lower
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Very well said to everyone regarding the Viggen. I’ll just second the comments above and say that it was my first DCS aircraft, and probably the easiest to learn, if not master(ish). Not a lot of transfer between other aircraft in terms of avionics and symbology, since unlike the Harrier/Hornet the Swedes do everything their own way, but it’s an awesome module and one I’d definitely recommend.
I’ll also make a plug for the wonderful Viggen Warfare Kneeboard that give you the quick rundown of all weapons release parameters and buttonology.
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The Harrier takes time for me as well. Even once I know it, when I revisit it I tend to need a lot more adjustment time to get back in the groove compared to other modules I can usually bounce back into without much effort. For me it’s always the parameters and busywork around the landing pattern that I get rusty on.
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Hmmm, I think I will really have to have another go at the Viggen.
I bought it when it was released because it has intrigued me since I was a teenager but I just found everything a bit too different and have never flown it much and never in ‘anger’
This was stupid fun though, even if I am a bit too high…
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Anything above the height of trees and oxygen is mandatory in the viggen.
Seriously though, anti shipping and rocket attacks in the viggen are absolutely my favourite things to do in an my serious capacity.
I love my sabre. I love dogfighting with migs and getting shot down. But to genuinely feel like a pilot capable of actually causing immense damage and escaping like a rat back to base, the viggen rules for me.
Everything else feels like I’m on borrowed time. The Vig makes it feel like everyone else is and that is badass
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You do have a way with words my friend…
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It’s a little sad seeing them getting into turn-fight on the Enigma server. Not quite so badass. But then I tried to attack the ships in my A-4 on the same server. Equally not so badass.
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Yes indeed. I tried A2A in it as well.
It went like this.
Mach 1. Climb to meet target
250mph. Hard turn to right
150mph. BANG. BANG BANG. BANG. COMPRESSOR STALL
Windmill on idle to restart and relight
BANG BANG BANG BANG, 30MM peppers plane and kills pilot.
It was fun. I liked it
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One pass, haul ***; even in A2A.
The Viggen is the fastest accelerating and fastest down low (or was, has that changed) so it can get out of dodge. My favorite on the dogfight servers because it’s so unexpected and difficult to counter.
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