Not to get OT, but I interpreted "keyboard flyer" to mean someone who uses a simple joystick and the keyboard to fly (such as myself), not a HOTAS that eliminates much of the need for the keyboard.

Maybe I'm wrong though... If "keyboard flyer" does really mean keyboard-only, the, yes, that's crazy!

We had one keyvboard only vpilot at our F30 lan-meets. He blew trumpit for a living.

No way not these days, maybe 25 years ago after a 30 hours instruction and practice I could take off do a circuit and land it.I've flown 152's and gliders but these day my crimper would be going 10 to the dozen and I would be sweating like micheal jacksons doctor .......

@PANTHER,

LOOKS LIKE BMS CAN FINALLY DO CLOSE FORMATION THAT FALCONAF COULDNT.

WISH I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO FOR A VIPER RIDE. THE MARCHETTE260 RIDE WASNT CHEAP, BUT WORTH EVERY PENNY OF IT. HOWEVER, MY OPPONENT WAS AN EX-RHINO DRIVER BECAUSE THE CIVIE OPPONENT DIDNT SHOW UP. MY PARTER WAS AN EX-TOMCAT PILOT NOW AIRLINE CAPTAIN. GREAT GUY. WAS ONE OF THE BEST BIRTHDAYS OF MY LIFE. HERES ME FLYING OFF HIS WING BEFORE THE FIGHTS-ON CALL

Doesn't sound like a joystick user.

I guess not, because great though BMS is ... and it is ... there's a lot that's still not modelled.
For example you program your SMS in the real jet ... and there's more to input when aligning ... minor details as such but they could be enough to stop you getting airborne and employing weaponry.
I would fancy my chances of getting most done to get airborne and land though ... the adrenaline rush might finish me off though!

Nutty

Nope I use a Saitek Cyborg of which I just use the axis, BMS dumped my key assignments and seeing how I am used to flying Cessna's IRL that only have the PTT switch for the radio on the stick I am pretty used to having to reach everywhere and nowhere for switches and it isn't really a problem for me. As for the rest of your post, what are you basing your assumptions on? Most of my flying instructors were F-16 pilot's, a couple of my friends are, one is a F-16 Simulator instructor, I myself have about 350 hours in GA aircraft and about 5 in a F-16 ULS. I've done aerobatics introductory courses and I've done some formation flying in a piaggio that a friend owns. I sell aviation illustrations to airforce units and have spent a lot of time at squadron parties etc. having a beer and talking to sqn members, when pilots get together and have a couple of drinks they tend to end up talking about flying. I have talked about my ULS experiences with pilots and how I'd love a HUD in my cessna and the story about overreliance on the HUD and how hard it is to make the switch to heads down flying if it fails has been told to me by more then one of the guys. My own experience of having to switch from VFR to IFR and your bodies response to that in Cessna's makes me think there is a lot of truth to that.

Regarding peoples believe the F-16 is somehow insanely hard to fly, that would be a rather stupid design flaw. When I fly my Cessna I just fly it and flying it has, or should have, my undivided attention. A pilot in a military aircraft can't give flying the jet his undivided attention because he has to manipulate the weapon system, communicate to a much higher level then I have to with ATC and sometimes lead a multi aircraft formation. If you make a aircraft that is such a handfull to operate he simply wont have the time to focus on his tasks as a warrior and leader.

I have seen it written by an F-16 pilot that the Steam gauges are the primary instruments in the F-16 - something about the HUD not being certified for instrument flight.

Fly - well in an F-16D if a real pilot could:

deal with the ATC protocol
plan and program the waypoints
have knowledge of airspace restrictions
Deal with getting the jet ready and run through the actual checks
have experience of any unknown pitfalls not found in a sim

and then when we were straight and level - I should be able to fly around a bit - have done aerobatics before but am not stupid enough to think that would be of any use to the actual physical conditioning required for any major G work - I suspect it would be a shock to the system.

Then you shouldn't have said "complete keyboard user" it was misleading.


Also, I don't recall anyone saying the F-16 was "insanely hard to fly."


As I said before, IMO most Falcon sim players who have a good skill level, could fly the plane, but they would likely have difficulty landing in RL. Obviously any RL pilots also have a greater advantage. Probably would have a hard time finding a Viper pilot who would let you land if you had no RL experience no matter how much sim time you had.LOL