Beginning the Journey with DCS
The only problem? The learning curve is vertical. It's going to take time.
I finally gave in this past weekend, and bought some new aircraft for DCS - but rather than start recording odd videos here and there with them, I’m going to start from scratch, write check-lists, and learn to fly each aircraft *properly* - recording videos illustrating different facets of each aircraft as I learn them.
We’ll be starting out with the “Flaming Cliffs” aircraft - the pack which includes a number of non-study-level aircraft with simplified systems - among them the F-15, A-10, Mig 29, Sukhoi 27 and 33.
Following that we’ll move on to the study level aircraft - beginning with the Northrop F-5E, then the Grumman F-14A, General Dynamics F-16C and McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C. The journey is going to take months.
I’ll be covering start-up procedures, avionics, weapons systems, navigation, and set up all manner of training scenarios (DCS has a wonderful mission editor). And yes, I’ll learn how to do in-flight refuelling. How hard can it be ?
A lot of the flights will take place over the Nellis range - where we’ll operate out of Nellis, Tonopah, and various other locations. We’ll be flying “the pattern”, and may even find ourselves on the heaving deck of a Nimitz class aircraft carrier from time to time - learning the hand signals to communicate with the crew for launch and recovery.
It’s going to be fun.