The odyssey continues. Can it ever end? Hard to imagine.


As everyone can see by my never-ending posts, I have gotten to the point where I am comfortable in combat and flying missions online with my SimHQ mates. Of course that is no proof of competency, but at least I am not embarrassing myself too much. I haven't landed with the gear up or dropped bombs on my own airbase, so far so good.


I started this new logbook when I got in to BMS. I thought about transferring my Allied Force logbook, but wasn't sure if it would work, and then decided since this is a completely different Falcon that I just wanted to start fresh. This logbook was created on 1/17/17. January 17th is the date my father passed away. So it holds much significance for me. The two things are entirely coincidental, but in some small way I think it's cool, in some way a reminder or tribute to my old man. I like to think he is along for the ride.

So that's three months yesterday that I have been back in the F4 saddle. Thanks to all of the help from the great folks here my progress feels swift. Of course I was not a complete noob, even if BMS is very different from any version of Falcon I have flown in the past.

I talk to quite a few F4 players of course, and I see that for a lot of guys the virtual ranks, promotions, medals and that sort of stuff hold little significance. I however, have always loved this aspect of F4. I get pumped when I am promoted or when the CO pins a medal on my flight suit. I've always been in to the role-playing aspect of any sim or game I play. Just the way I am. So I was pleased last night to achieve the virtual rank of Lt. Colonel. In AF I had become a full-bird Colonel. I recall a thread we had at Frugal's at the time and there were only three guys who showed their logbook rank of Colonel, one of them was an actual Viper Driver, whose names escapes me at the mo. It was not easy to get to. Speaking of logbooks, I rarely see any ever shown. Perhaps it''s considered poor form? The way I see it is the logbook is stark reality. It is the good and the bad. It can't be edited (or can it?), so it is what it is. Every good mission, every bad mission reflected in the totals. I have no reservations about showing mine, especially in this odyssey thread. It has been about my rediscovering Falcon 4 and shows, for good or bad, my odyssey in statistical terms.









My man Mac will hit LtC in a matter of days as well, but he doesn't give a sh!t about that stuff

The longevity medal is probably beyond reach now. At the beginning of the odyssey, I managed to get it up to 77 missions out of the 100 required. I then started a campaign in the Balkans and my wingman was killed straight away. I then got it back to 44, only to lose another. Two deaths also reset it twice. Now it's probably impossible for me to get. Flying online things are bound to happen. Planes explode entering the 3D or whatever. So this one is probably beyond me now.

Used to care about this in AF. Not bothered with it now with all the "testing" I'm doing.

Yep, and that's true of alot of guys who fly F4. I think I am probably in the minority actually by caring about this stuff. In the end it doesn't make much difference, but I am still glad I'm not a second louie

To get colonel it's double the points again, so will be a while.

I actually don't want to get general as that's sort of silly. That's just a BMS thing I think right? I remember Colonel being the highest rank in other versions of F4. Maybe I'm mistaken.

-Ice,

I really like that layout as well and curious about the "rail system" you have for the seat platform, is it a custom build?

Custom build yes. Just 4 fixed castor wheels on a "rail system" composed of wood

I started a Ace KTO Iron Fortress. Here I am on takeoff at Kunsan, loaded for a hunt. Four AIM-120, two GBU-24 and two AGM-88. Ready for anything

No one will accuse me of being too sharp. I tend to get stuck in my ways, continuing to use the methods that I know, and that have proven successful. But there is so much to F4, so many options. I'm probably mistaken, but I counted the number of ground attack weapons available for my Viper in one of our campaigns and it was like 33? That's alot of options! In addition there are many attack methods. Dive-toss, CCRP, CCIP, lofting and on and on.

I cannot recall when I last lofted bombs on to my target. No excuse. But how many times have I attempted to drop say CCRP, the bombs didn't come off so I transition to CCIP but have to dive too steeply to make up for it, and get the bombs off way too low and then get shot down by some gomer holding a bazooka or a tractor with pointy missiles?

So last night I worked out lofting. And it's as awesome as it seems. I targeted some stacked self-propelled guns battalions in my test run of the KTO Iron Fortress campaign. Flew in hot at around 15,000. Set the angle to 30 degrees and executed the loft release. Bombs came off as expected, though I didn't hold the pickle long enough and the fourth one stayed aboard. Simple mistake that won't happen often. I was looking at too much as I worked it out. I turned off target and waited,and waited and waited BOOM BOOM BOOM! The CBU rippled right down the column and I'm watching from 22,000 feet instead of 8,000. That will go along way toward making me not die.

The odyssey is taken in steps, though some should have been taken long ago. Lofting is now near the top of the bag of tricks.

After dropping my last bomb and coming off target I found a huge furball and mixed it up, flying home and landing to a blank debrief? What the hell? No idea what I killed and I was excited to see how effective the attack had been. Nothing in my debrief.txt either. No credit for the mission. Strange. Still, it was a big step forward as I re-learn F4.

I have a question about lofting. After the max-toss circle disappeared I counted to 5 and pulled to the release angle. All went well, but I am not sure of what is the correct point to push the pickle button. When do you consent to release in a loft release?

I usually roar in at 200ft and when the circle blink I start to pull up keeping pickle pressed in until FPM touches the release line like normal CCRP and off the bombs go and I turn left or right to avoid AAA.

Yep. Burner on (for me at least), pitch up to your set climb angle, then press and hold the pickle until the bombs come off, then slice back...

So you wait until you've attained the release angle before consenting? I did it well before I reached 30 degrees. Obviously it worked, but I am wanting to know the 'correct' point at which I should consent.


This is what the manual says, and it's not clear if you should consent as you begin to pull, or at the release angle. I suppose it doesn't make a difference? As long as it's 'in time'.

When the counter reaches zero the first solution cue is on the FPM, the PUAC flashes and the pilot should pull 4G in 2 seconds to the intended release angle and give release consent by depressing and holding the weapon release button. When the next solution cue hits the FPM the bombs should be automatically released. If they don’t, the parameters weren’t met and the system inhibited release

I've always done it after reaching release angle, I usually use 25 and it's pretty good.

It might work but you're not a stable platform upon bomb release. Ideally, you're at release angle **AND** you aren't pulling any G's. More accurate and stable platform = better chances of the right things going boom!

You guys make sense

Returning to Kunsan after a mission near Seoul I was approaching the base and noticed the Nuclear Plant had just been hit, it was smoking. Called AWACS who told me bandits, 10 miles, 1000. Helicopters? That's not really a helo target. It was a pair of MiG-23s, just coming off target and flying right under me! A Patriot battery just east of the facility had also picked them up. And thanks for that. I was low, slow and out of spears. Snapped this shot which I think is cool. A little lower and faster and I might have been pierced.

Patriots in pursuit




Both MiGs were shot down. Cool.

I want a wingman.

This will be an odd sort of post. A want-ad if you will.

My story is all over this board in case you want to know more about me.

I'm looking for a like-minded individual to fly campaign missions with. I've been flying online here at SimHQ for the past few months on our server. I had hoped that along the way I would hook up with someone that I squared with. That hasn't happened, sometimes we just see the sim differently, have different ways we want to go about things, but mostly it's due to scheduling, time zones, being in another part of the world.

So here is what I hope to find. A Viper pilot on the east coast of the USA (or same time zone), who has the time and more importantly the desire to fly several times a week in the evenings, and to do it the way I do.I do things as I think will be most effective in the campaign, not by the USAF handbook. So that means loading 8 CBU sometimes. Dropping bombs and looking for air targets. Hanging Sidewinders on the wingtips

Experience isn't important, but the basics should be known. I can help anyone that might need a bit of seasoning. It's more about the attitude, the love of the sim and the campaign. What's the old saying?...

It is not my aptitude
but my attitude
that will determine my altitude, or,
how high I can fly

What I hope to achieve is to fly with the same guy so often that we become two cogs of the same machine, to develop a sixth sense, to know what the other guy is doing, just because. Wingman just means we fly together. Back in the AF days I had this guy -- he no longer flies F4 -- and we would alternate the lead and wing positions each mission. So I'm not looking for a guy who will be responsible to keep me safe, listen to what I say and nothing more. I don't even want to fly traditional lead/wing roles. Each ship will be a 'supporting lead' with a high degree of autonomy, but flown within a certain structure that allows each pilot to support and inform his element mate.

So if this sounds interesting to you, and you have the desire to commit to this, post a reply here or send me a PM.

When the open server first came around, I had hopes of being able to fly with someone. However, what seems to have happened is that we now have an open campaign and people fly it like an SP campaign... I've never been much into flying SP and babysitting AI so I've not been very much involved.

I'm usually at my PC when my free time allows it and I can usually make a flight provided I have enough of a heads up, but it seems that people just fly when they are able with no communication with the rest of the group about it. I do understand this -- sometimes all you have is a spare hour and people just fire up the sim and fly... for an MP flight, a little more coordination is required.

Unfortunately for us, DBond, your timezones could not be more out-of-sync... your free time is 2-4am my time...

Yep, the time zone thing is the biggest obstacle. My dinner time is someone else's heading to bed time and it's tough to work it all out. A couple of times when Oden and I flew he had to stay up until the wee hours to make it work. That's the reason that I want to find someone in the same time zone. My 9 PM would be his 9 PM so it should be easier to find blocks of common time. We'll see what happens, but nothing ventured nothing gained so I thought I would reach out. I would like to fly a 'private' campaign where I have more control over it but I am still flying with another player. I get a bit bonkers when I see all of those Red aircraft roaming around behind our lines!

A few guys and myself would fly a campaign, but the campaign was only up when we would fly it. Basically, we were using the campaign to generate flights that we were interested in flying, then we'd assemble and fly those.

I've made a flight ops thread here and suggest you guys use it. One of our lurker friends may see a posting they can fly and join you online. You may not find a PERMANENT wingman, but at least you'll have a human on the wing more often than not.

Thanks Ice, yes I may not be able to find that player, but it's worth a shot. I've had zero responses so far, but ya never know!