Real life pilots?

[haitch40]

Originally Posted by branko57

Hello everyone,

I have earned my "INOFFICIAL PILOT WINGS" 1998 on the flight path from PHOENIX - ARIZONA to SAN DIEGO - CALIFORNIA / USA !!!

The B-17G nick named "SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY" was booked for an airshow, due the 3 hours long flight i was sitting on the bombadiers seat enjoying the unforgettable view, when oversudden a call (via intercom) reached me to come up into the cockpit. I swear to god, the first pilot left his seat and told me to take over under the assistance of the co.pilot and i really did it. That was a moment in my life i can't put in words !!!

here a few pictures of that particular B-17G...........enjoy !!!

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Comme...4220f4e5cfab3c

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Comme...4220f4e5cfab3c

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Untit...19d86d7eba6334

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Untit...883a55136a882c

why did th pilot leave his station?

[Lost Apiarist]

Wow too cool Branko, you are very lucky. I bet that was a blast! Real loud, cold? What were your impressions?

[Patpat13]

Yes, that was my job too...
But my aircraft, despite of his reputation, was far different from a warbird

As Dr. Laplace says, no sim game can give you the same sensations as a real plane, as realistic it could be.
Compare to real life, this kind of game induces a very brutal way of piloting. You just have to see the way of piloting of some of the famous "aces" in the top leaderboard, specially when they fly 1v1, to be sure of that ! In real life, no warbird could support such "binary" maneuvers whitout breaking.

But it doesn't change my opinion, BoB is still really good in his category, especially for a "console sim" !The most important thing is to consider it just as its purpose: a game!

[winny]

Cool, thanks...

I was also wondering if it was a help or a hinderance being a real pilot, I guess from what you're saying it's both!

[bobbysocks]

it is both helpful and frustrating. like the Dr. said...things you would normally feel and would effect you arent there. when i saw i was going well over 600 mph and still had flight controls and no shuttering and shaking i had to smirk. compressibility would have kicked in and made it very difficult if not impossible to recover at that point. not to mention the G forces that would have taken place...especially black outs arent factored in. long time ago ( 90s) i played something on PC...think it was yeagers air combat. when you pulled too many Gs the screen would start to grayscale and fade to black...which was interesting. some of the manuvers these planes could do...in the game you cant...and visa versa...some of the things they couldnt do...in game you can. hmm it would be interesting to hold an aerobatic competition. no combat just pure maneuvers... a time duration of so many minutes and points awarded for different maneuvers...varying for the degree of difficulty. anyways it does help especially landing and having a general knowledge of flight controls and when and why to use them...it does for me anyways..

[Patpat13]

Exactly,

such games are a good way (a good complement) of developping situation awareness and understanding of flight principles. As for the rest, nothing can really replace real life experience.

Of course, things would be quite different if we were talking about advanced professionnal sims, as used in every Air Force or Airline company. But that's another story !

[gbtstr]

Yeah, agree with the sentiments in here.

You have a better understanding and feel for monkey skills needed to do get the sim airplane to do things you want it to. But, there's always a game learning curve anyway. And the best sim will never get to 100% realistic.

Sims are best for procedure training and instrument skills. Otherwise, nothing beats ass strapped to seat, wheels off the deck flying. I also find actual flying in the goo to be easier to deal with than "hooded" instrument flight. Maybe that's just me though.

[flynlion]

Originally Posted by gbtstr

Sims are best for procedure training and instrument skills. Otherwise, nothing beats ass strapped to seat, wheels off the deck flying. I also find actual flying in the goo to be easier to deal with than "hooded" instrument flight. Maybe that's just me though.

Definately NOT just you! I agree with this 100%

And it's a proven fact that cool sunglasses make you a better pilot

[gbtstr]

Originally Posted by flynlion

And it's a proven fact that cool sunglasses make you a better pilot

Well, that goes without saying.

[Lost Apiarist]

Originally Posted by branko57

My impressions as a former flight crew member on a real B-17G nick named "SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY" are..........

FLYING.....? Controling the "QUEEN OF THE SKY" compare to a bird with a "stick" it was quite easy. From the very moment i touched the steering wheel it was like controlling a smooth driving truck !!!

LOUD........? Yes it was very loud but i loved the sound of her engines !!!

COLD........? Not really cause we never flew that high or even at bad weather for safty reason !!!

My favourite spot's during the flight were the bombadier seat and the top turret, the view from there was just incredible !!!

We flew each year to airshows and simmilar events. My job on the ground was more publicrelation related, ansvering all day long the "same" questions over and over again but i like it. The only one really negative impression i got (all over again) was the compettition fight (about money), beetwen us and other B-17 crews if we were on the same airshow !!!

I remember a such case like was yesterday. We and few other B-17 were booked for the "MEMPHIS BELLE" flight crew reunion event, i wont go into details but you should know that all the crew's have just ignored each other.......... NO COMRADES AT ALL !!!

That was for me a real eye opener and i quit without any regrets cause i dislike TWO-FACED people !!!

Very cool. That is quite the experience Branko, thanks for sharing. People sure are funny when it comes to competition, some take it a little too seriously.