I had an Army pilot tell me about a check ride in a C-12 (Kingair) that he had where he told the inspector something like “I don’t do numbers. I keep the needles in the Green. If I really need to, I’ll put them in the Yellow. Don’t go into the Red.”
Think he flies for American now.
Oh dear.
I admit that’s how I fly the Huey, but that’s in a sim…
I think there is a lot to be said for that. At the end of the day you don’t really need to know an exact temperature limitation for example. What you are really trying to determine is if it is too hot, too cold or within an an acceptable range. The same for pressures etc etc.
Yeah. I learned long ago to volunteer only the bare minimum on a checkride oral. Give an adequate answer (the green arc) and if the examiner wants to know more, plumb your brain. But don’t volunteer to go there. Haha…
Great idea for a thread 
Civilian: King Air B200. Skyhawk would be a close 2nd.
Military: P-51D and F/A-18C.
Rotor: UH-1 or any variant, including 412.
Currently learning/spending most time in: DCS & BMS Viper.
Civilian: B272; Do-228
Military: MiG-21; Mirage 2000C…and Viggen if I’m feeling calamitous
Rotor: Mi8 Hip with the Huey a close second
Currently learning/spending most time in: Mi8 of course! It is “Hip March”
F/A-18. Possibly because I’ve been toying with it since Jane’s F/A-18 two decades ago when I had a PC that could barely run it!
I so rarely fly the 767-400 that I have to spend a couple of hours studying before I fly it. And when I sit in the seat I have to take a minute or two to reformat my brain for the new layout. The differences in our wildly mixed fleet make flying a challenge; a little like DCS but obviously not nearly so extreme. But the differences also make each flight fresh. So the planes never really fit like a glove for me and that actually makes them more fun to fly I think. Variety is the spice of life and all that.
As far as DCS goes, my glove is the F-5. Its the most authentic feeling plane in DCS to me. After that, the Harrier and the M2000. The Ka50 and A-10C are two machines I can hop into after a year and still be functional. That’s the Law of Primacy in action.
After years of it being just the Ka-50 and A-10C, I can now say I’m probably there with the F/A-18. In fact, I’ve likely forgotten some 50/10 stuff because I’ve not touched them since 2018 at least.
I really ought to actually try again with the warthog. I just find it so slow and complicated. I’ve never really given it much of a chance.
AV-8, every time. Always feel at home in the cockpit and familiar with what it can do.
For me it has to be the A-10C as well. At least for now. It’s not my favourite plane to fly (that goes hands down to the Mustang) and I probably won’t spent the majority of my time in it (currently it’s all about the Hornet) but I know that thing in and out. Even after being on a break from DCS for over two years I can just hop in, cold start it, fly a mission and return. It feels like home and the HOTAS integration of all the systems is by far my favourite of all the DCS modules.
This might change though because I really enjoy carrier ops and even though I prefer the Kitty over the Hornet I have to say that, coming from the A-10C, it’s much easier to learn compared to the Tomcat and I will be flying the Hornet almost exclusively for now.
From my short time in the Tomcat I have to say that it feels absolutely amazing though, so when I find the time to properly learn to fly and operate that beast I know where I will be spending all my time in DCS.
Mig-21.
In 2014 I got the KA-50 and the A-10C for DCS. Then in the summer of 2015 I got FC3 and the Mig-21(plus some extra’s like the Huey).
The lawndart drew me in because it was just weird. The first full fidelity fighter jet in DCS, it could pack a punch but had some terrible missiles. Then I got online, and what an experience it was! Trying to make sense of the useless RWR, trying to figure out if something is coming at you, seeing the fight happening high above and chasing through the valley’s with the throttle run back.
Had a pretty good ritual too! Start up, take-off, often times with the rocketboost, and then slow the hell down, conserve some fuel and hide out in the terrain, waiting for an opportunity!
I could always bring that one down on the numbers, 82% to 85% throttle on approach with flaps and gear down, you can ride it down firmly, it’s okay to chase the glideslope a little, but you gotta be firm on touchdown and use the chute.
Once I almost smashed into a flight of F-15’s that decided to ignore server rules and use the whole runway for take-off, they got a 4 ship lined up, and I was barrelling down the runway with a heavy loadout, fortunately my rockets kicked in and I just cleared them. Never saw them though, only noticed them in the Tacview replay, because that cockpit shakes like a madhouse on a sunday during take-off. Pretty positive they must have been wondering why that black cloud was moving towards them at high speed.
There is a certain satisfaction to getting get at “playing the piano” as it were as you manipulate all the sensors on the HOTAS to do what you want to do. I was pretty good at it for awhile…and I could probably fall back into it after a few hours.
One of my biggest wishes still is to play FAC in a big MP mission using the A10C with just a TGP and some smoke rockets, guiding others to bomb the living hell out of some ground targets that I find for them.
Same, man. I’m not sure what it is, but I just can’t quit her. Though I haven’t had nearly enough time to devote to her and need to revisit since the new system update (I understand that the training missions are now updated for this?).
On the civilian side, I’ve become quite fond of the Piper Cheyenne in XPlane 11- complex enough to be a bit of a challenge, slow enough to give me time to fumble my way through the GPS and navigational bits and not kill myself while my attention is divided.
Parce qu’ elle a possede cette je ne sais quoi.