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JG300-Stoopy · Last edited by JG300-Stoopy on Thu Sep 20, 2007 3:46 pm; edited 7 times in total

Note: This is part 3, to see the previous Parts 1 & 2, click HERE!

OK! So in Parts one and two you listened to my yammering and all that happened is we flew a Cessna around and recorded it. Big deal! Well, here's where it starts gettin' interesting!

We're gonna play that recording back and fly in formation with it....and we're gonna record that flight too!

Here's whatchya do.......

Start off with the same saved flight you made for the first flight. But, move your plane over and back a little bit, to position it as the second plane in the flight. Here, I've moved the airplane back one length and over to the right about half a length.

Then, go to the "Recorder" menu and select "Play as Traffic" (NOT "Play", which is for something a bit different than what we're doing now).

Select the recording that you already saved.....and be ready to press the PAUSE key REAL FAST after hitting "Open"!

And as SOON as you select it, PRESS THE PAUSE KEY!!!!!! Because you need to turn on "Record" before it goes any further, so you can have a second recording that starts out at exactly the same time as the first recording. So pausing the sim will pause the playback.

Plus, you also may want to change the airplane (different color scheme or airplane altogether) and also save this flight setup as "Flight #2" so you can re-do it if you have to:

Here, I'm going to choose the Green Cessna.....

And save the flight as #2 in the series......

Then, while you're still Paused, go back to the Recorder menu and select "Record".....

And you should be set! Oh wait, one more thing.....go back to your regular cockpit view, HUD mode (and the Axis Indicator should still be turned on) and ZOOM OUT as far as you can stand to....I go back to 31%.

Zooming out that far is important because it allows the wingman to see the flight leader's plane more of the time when they're alongside or slightly above/below, and also it encourages you to GET CLOSER to the leader for some really nice tight formation flying!

OK, NOW you're set (see the prompt in the lower-right corner of the screen below that says you're playing back and recording?).

Unpause the flight, and then get ready for the leader to start rolling. In the first flight in this example, I flashed the NAV lights after sitting still for 15 seconds and then began slowly throttling up. Below, you can see how that helps as a visual cue in this stage.....

After throttling up and following the leader through the takeoff roll and departure (at which point I was too busy to take a screenie), here we're formed up and fairly level. Now you'll see the usefulness of having the Axis Indicator turned on, because if you just aim it about a foot beyond the flight leader's wingtip, you've got a good reference point to use.

If you find yourself having trouble staying at the same altitude as the leader, chances are you're just not trimmed the same. Trim is your friend here, use it.

Also note that the other plane's tail is chopped off and you might think we're flying too close. If in doubt, PAUSE the flight (remember, switching views during recording can cause recording stutters) and go outside to check....

Nope, lookin' pretty good here!

When the leader starts to turn, the real fun begins! If you're on the outside of the turn, you'll find that you'll need to throttle UP to stay in position, since you're taking a wider-radius turn and covering more ground....

Likewise, if you're on the inside of the turn, you'll need to throttle back some to keep from over-running the leader.....

Other than that, nothing to it but to do it, and remember that practice makes perfect.....someday I hope to get there! Smile

A good formation landing and taxi back for a side-by-side parking job and shutdown makes a good way to wrap up a flight.....

Then all ya's got to do is save it (under a new name, like #2 in the series as below) and you've got a cool formation flight recording that you an play back again and again since FS-Recorder allows playback of MULTIPLE recordings....which is what we're gonna do in the nest step!

Next up: Playing back two recordings at once using the "Play" function.....and then, playing them back "As Traffic" and recording a THIRD flight in the formation!

To go to Part 4, click HERE!

Chuck_71st · Joined: Jul 22, 2005 Posts: 235

Thats really cool......my eyes glazed over a bit Shocked

but really cool Stoop Mr. Green

JG300-Stoopy

I'm sorry Chuck. I got 59 screenshots in all becuase i wanted to use pictures and not make eyes glaze over, really I tried....but couldn't help but make some comments and tips I think are important.

I'll try harder to tone it down.

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