So I'm trying to figure out how to keep SimHQ's stuff fresh and current. Please vote on which format you prefer going forward. I have a pretty good idea of the pros and cons of each format (more information and leisurely reading for the text and quicker and more dynamic for the video), but I'd like to hear what our readers think.

First up - the Video AAR:



Next - the Traditional AAR:



A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away a flight sim project known as Fighter Ops hit our radar screen. I was really excited about the prospect of this sim because it promised a recreation of the tasks that a USAF trainee would encounter in Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) and Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals (IFF) training. Alas – that Fighter Ops bright star continues to fade for those of us that were anticipating it (although we hope someday to be surprised that it goes super-nova!). Over the years I’ve done training mission reports for various sims doing my own versions of “training” that were more like interactive learning sessions for myself. With the Digital Combat Series of aircraft hitting their stride the opportunity to utilize their ultra-realistic aircraft to start a virtual career (including training) is close to fruition.

With little to no skill in the area of mission creation using the powerful DCS mission editor I turned to the community to see what they had to offer. To start off with – I think the training missions provided with DCS A-10C are very good. The highlighting boxes and voice-overs are very well done – so many would say you don’t even have to go any further than your default install to get good training. I was interested in a training campaign though – and I found it with Maple Flag Missions. What will follow in this series will be the full 12-mission A-10C Basic Flight Training Qualification campaign. This is a payware campaign - $4.99. While some might balk at paying for content I can see this niche campaign being valuable to me personally as entertainment and am willing to pay for the time it took to develop these missions.

The BFT Qualification campaign covers the following phases:

Basic Flight Training Qualification has the following objectives:

Contact Stage (VFR):
1. Perform Ground Handling
2. Perform Take-Off and EFATO
3. Fly Traffic Pattern
4. Perform Approach and Landing
5. Perform Basic Maneuvers
6. Perform Advanced Handling
7. Perform Aerobatics
8. Respond to Emergencies

Instrument / Navigation Stage (IFR):
9. Instrument Approach (Landing)
10. Instrument Flight Plan Navigation

Formation Stage:
11. Fly 2 Ship as Wingman

Low-Level Stage
12. Fly Low-Level Flight Plan

Our first flight (BFT-01) will focus on pre-flight preparation including engine start, taxi, and shutdown procedures. It is worth mentioning that this campaign isn’t a tutorial in that you aren’t necessarily guided step-by-step through procedures. It is more of a proficiency checker.





BFT-01 starts with us sitting in a cold & dark cockpit. Our Flight Examiner (FE) will be evaluating our actions for this Performance Objective (PO). It is a good idea to print out the mission briefing ahead of time so that you can refer to it for exactly what the mission objectives and standards are. The FE starts out with the instruction to proceed with the start-up and pre-flight checks and that we have 15 minutes to accomplish this task. Again, it is a good idea to have a print-out of the required checks to assure that you don’t miss a step.



After a few minutes the FE reminds us not to skip any items. 15 minutes is plenty of time but it can be easy to miss an item or two during the start.



15 minutes later I hold my breath as the FE checks out my procedures. I’m disappointed to find I forgot to turn on one of the radios (there are a few of them) and I bust my first PO. On my second attempt I am confident in my procedure but get another (U)nqualified because I failed to properly test the Oxygen system (hint: hold it down until it completes the full arc around the dial and the light goes out!).





The third time is a charm and I get a sense of relief when the PO clears my start-up procedure. The HUMVEE in front of me starts pulling away and I’m instructed to follow him.



After getting admonished to speed up and then getting yelled at for being too close, I settle on the proper distance behind the HUMVEE. As mentioned in the pre-flight briefing, the proper distance is to have the vehicle approximately matching the width of your HUD pitch ladder.





The airfield is abuzz with activity including flights departing, arriving, and ground traffic running around.



The HUMVEE rolls through a crowded ramp with limited wing clearance and provides a good challenge for tight quarters taxiing. I can only assume the penalty for hitting a truck with a wing is an (U)nsatisfactory rating!





At the end of the taxiway we pull out onto the runway and make our way back down toward our parking area.





Don’t get distracted!



The HUMVEE leads me back to the ramp and instructs me to park. While the 15 minutes to start is pretty generous, the 2 minutes to find all the proper switches for shutdown is pretty stingy. I scramble while referring to my tasks list to make sure I have the proper items switched off and await the verdict.



Success!



I pass the first PO with a Qualified Minus (Q-) rating – probably for coming too close to the HUMVEE several times.

The mission is a good introduction to the BFT campaign and what will be expected. The tasks are very specific and you have to pay attention. Failure can be frustrating, but can also be looked on as an opportunity to improve and become more familiar with the aircraft and systems.

BeachAV8R

I voted for the video AAR.

Video AARs please.

And you do know that the BFT training missions are available for free, yes? I think the payware version is the only one to get updates and users of the payware will get priority when asking for help, but otherwise they should be the same. Still, for the quality of the missions, it is cheap at $5. Very nice AAR btw.

Yeah - I actually started flying them when they were non-payware, but only a few had been updated to the newest patch level. So once the author put them all together and updated them I figured it was easiest to pay to play. Hopefully the input he is getting will help him improve them too..

Thanks for the vote..!

Cadet? That would be an insult if someone called me that.

LOL..we are looking for "fun" to trump "realism" in this campaign.

Why not both?

Definitely videos (if no adverts follow, hate that).

Can't do it. Not enough time.

I really enjoy pics with comments and text AAR's. You can read those at your own pace and really take a close look at the pic and study the details. Many AAR's in the past have cracked me up with a pic and a humurous caption above it. Sometimes youtube is busy or throttling and waiting for the buffer as the video pauses like 10 times is frustrating. It's at the point now when I click on an AAR post and see a video, I just skip it. My 2 cents.

I am with Force10 here.
Word by word.

I vote for the text AAR.

Exactly the same reasons already posted.

Cheers!

Although the video AAR is flashy, I get more out of reading the text. My main goal when reading an AAR is to learn something that I didn't know before: a different way to approach the target, attack runs, manoeuvres, whatever. Video AAR's make that problematic - unless you want (or can) spend a ton of time in the editing room cutting in external shots with graphic overlays. And with the track replay issues I have been hearing of (just getting back into the sim thing) that's going to double the work.

I do see part of the problem though: I think that video AAR's might be able to draw in new players - and that's something that is more important for the survival of the 'hardcore' flight sim hobby. So, with reluctant fingers I am going to click on the video AAR choice - knowing that I can still discuss the flight stuff with the experts here :-)

One caveat: it's more important that we have some AARs rather than none, so whichever is less work, in the end, may translate into more AARs over the long haul.

One request: if you do go the AAR route, I would appreciate a quick article on how you pull them together after the first couple. Might help some of us community members out who might like to do the same.

/this


I appreciate the work put into a good video but I by far prefer a written AAR.

Screenshots and text is the way that I like it. It gives me time to digest the events in the AAR as I see fit.

Thanks!

Written AAR, by the reason already shown by the others.

I just got Fraps and am learning to use it while building my first A-10C missions. (Don't assign Caps Lock to the Video Capture or text chat will look like yelling while recording.)

I like that it can take screenies every x seconds. Last night I watched a few of the Fraps videos I chanced to make over the weekend, and:
The videos take a long time to review
They have all kinds of head movement that I would not want in the final version
How to edit a bunch of videos to make a good one? Seems like a lot of time there.
Plus, I'd want to add music, text overlay and maybe commentary. Quite a lot of work there.

Written AAR with screenshots is straightforward, and the post can be edited easily.

WC

The *biggest* obstacle to video AARs is the terrible track replay system in DCS. The tracks almost always screw up once you start messing around with time accel or changing the viewpoint. Which makes them essentially useless.

Well then, here is a suggestion:

It may be selfish of me but I would like both YouTube video and what you have been doing with text and edited screenshots.

Post a slightly edited video of a track to YouTube and continue with screenshots here.

I do realize that it's more work for you but a video would increase the impact of your great AARs.

Thanks.

That is appearing to be the best solution...LOL.. Had the poll been skewed 80/20 or something I could have worked with that..but it is pretty close to being split down the middle. So I might just have to reduce the frequency of the AARs and make them hybrids..

A bit more work, but it is a hobby I enjoy.