AI formation flying

[paul26may]

Having just watched some B58's and B36's on You Tube I quite fancy setting up bomber formations taking off and then flying with them. Maybe on a mission to bomb Moscow to smithereens? Is it possible?

[DaveB]

Undoubtedly Paul. Peter McLeland is our 'traffic' expert and if you've seen his 12-ship Hunter formation.. you'll know that it can also be done with other aircraft. However.. read how he did it and you may not be so keen at having a go yourself

ATB

DaveB

[GHD]

If you are running FSX, you could try Jerry Beckwith's FormationSetup.zip from Flightsim.

[DaveB]

Ah yes.. thanks George. I'd forgotten just how many clever AI progs there are available for FSX.. that being one

ATB

DaveB

[dswanson]

Paul,

AI formation flying is harder than it looks so I'd advise do some with a single plane first - either some of the default civvies or if you can manage ttools and afcaad, set up your own. It is very satisfying once you've mastered the skill of staying close as well as flying the plane, checking in with ATC and coping with the way FS makes the AI planes do things that you can't replicate when flying the same plane next to it !! Try a slower plane at first and fly in the same aircraft so you can mimic turns etc. Beware of the final approach as the AI engine slows the plane down very quickly and you can quickly overshoot.

I've just had a go a setting up a 3 ship chevron formation of mosquitoes a la Peter McClelland method. I can get them flying but the chevron falls apart very quickly.

As with most things, patience in formation flying will win. Now, how about a formation loop.......

[Techy111]

Also FS Recorder for 9 or X is a good way to learn formation flying....just record a flight with slow gentle turns then play as traffic from the menu and fly with yourself....quite good fun for those interested..?

Link = http://www.fs-recorder.net/

Tony

[Fodda]

Yes FS Recorder taught me a great deal about how difficult formation flying is. You can take an aeroplane up and record everything, I chose my Flight One C172 as I know the characteristics and it's an easy plane to fly. I recorded a 30 minute flight from take off to full stop landing and timed every maneouvre so it happend on the minute at even intervals. That way I was easily able to predict exactly what was going to happen and when. I took off on the left side of the runway so that I could formate on the TO roll and was able to fly fairly close for ages. Only the landing changed significantly, as I was using RW weather for both flights, and the wind had changed speed and direction for the landing.

Anyway, that got me very interested so next flight was an F-86 Sabre in formation with a MiG-15 (great for screen shots). That was very hard indeed, especially when I threw in some hard combat-style maneouvres after 30 mins of fairly standard flying. Didn't take too long to lose the Sabre even though I knew pretty well what he was going to do and when, and where he ought to have been when I finally lost sight of him.

I'd recommend FS Recorder to anyone who's interested in trying formation flying... And perhaps for setting up some interesting AI flights.

[paul26may]

Thanks for the replies chaps. I've loaded up FS Recorder and looked at the manual but can't for the life of me work out how I fly alongside! I play the recorded flight as 'traffic' but how do I get to start flying myself without closing down the recording I have made?

[Fodda]

It's been a long time since I played with FS Recorder. But once you've recorded and saved the recording as traffic file you then run FS as normal.

One thing I forgot to mention, is that you must set the date and time of your flight to the same date and time of the flight you recorded.

I've also not RTFMed FS Recorder so there may be a way of making an hourly, daily or weekly flight out of the recording. I just skimmed the surface.

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post... I sat on the ground with engines running for 3 mins or so at the start of the recording just so that I had time to get the flyable aeroplane's engine started, get settled down, basically get ready to fly with the recording in that time. Time acceleration can be used to skip past if you're already ready... Good luck.

[dswanson]

Paul,

Start the flight you intend to record at the threshold of the runway with the engine running and trim & flaps etc. set for takeoff, then save the flight in FS. Wait 30 seconds or so then start the recording, wait 10 seconds or so then start your flight. Continue the recording all the way to landing, then save the recorded flight.

Restart your flight in FS, then select "play as AI". The recorded plane will be "sitting" on the plane you are in so wait for the 10 second gap you left at the start of the recording and you will see the Ai plane move forward from your own. This can be seen in spot view or from the cockpit. You can then follow the ai recorded plane on the flight.

An alternative way is, after finishing the recording, restart your flight in FS and either slew or use the "pushback" feature to move your plane back the length of the plane. Save the flight again. If you now start the AI recorder flight you'll see it appear in front of you.

One tip, don't try to start a recorded flight in the air as finding it again can be impossible !