Kira

There's an old saying in aviation: 'The rules were written in blood.' More often than not, where there's a rule, it's in place to try to prevent more people from killing themselves (and others) than has already happened in the process of doing, or not doing, something in particular. Then again, there's a reason why the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board i.e. the government organization that investigates accidents and determines their causes; that's all accidents, with all kinds of different sections. Aviation is just one section.) and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration i.e. the government organization that writes the rules for aircraft operation within U.S. airspace) are separate entities. When setting up the agencies, they made damn sure to keep the aviation side of the NTSB totally separate from the FAA. This allows for the NTSB to make whatever recommendations it sees fit in the name of improving safety without pressure from the regulatory bodies who actually get to write the rules. As usual, there are plenty of repeated examples of problems that could have been avoided, but weren't as it was deemed too expensive to put a regulation in place against the cost of some property, or even a few lives.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/what-if-us-navy-had-built-f-15n-sea-eagle-174745 https://tacairnet.com/2015/04/15/f-15n-sea-eagle/

Saw this many years ago, I think in Popular Mechanics magazine. Apparently, they went ahead with it. https://robbreport.com/motors/aviation/v-wing-aircraft-fuel-efficient-advanced-airliner-2948619/?fbclid=IwAR0wvPioj7IFBE_axLmtR5hrTSULCAl62c3qn6Ero7ScL-nzN1B95KnvXs0

My antivirus insists that it has malware on it. Think I'll wait for the next update. ...Or maybe that was the last mini-update. Hmmm...

Howdy Marc! I'm of a different opinion from a lot of the guys here in that I think DCS is best suited for jets. My go-to is the F-14, though I love the F-86 as well just for bopping around. Currently hammering tankers with the M2000, which is a nice jet, but... not really my thing. Never did get the hang of air refueling/formation flying/anything more than flailing around, especially when precision is what's needed (refueling). As for what's recommended, I'd say it's 'whatever suits you. It's your money you're spending after all.

50% sale and "free to fly" is on for 11 more days right now.

Oh man. They're working on an F-8J as well! Boy are these carrier decks going to get crowded! (When you're out of F-8s, you're out of fighters.)

The article: https://www.engadget.com/boeing-mq-25-tanker-drone-flies-with-refueling-pod-160152881.html?fbclid=IwAR2iYQpD8uCMa7SUoTfjP8JLSQ82laJCea0dNH6KHbWc8RSLZ_5ofSVIUc4

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/vma-311-deactivates-as-usmc-retires-iconic-harrier-jump-jet-tomcats-will-reactivate-as-vmfa-311-operating-the-f-35c-lightning-ii/?fbclid=IwAR2lw0rtYKF7nilfmuuEyC6pOUEkI6AEqKY8wo1jY2VQdpV-FX5N_BCgWFg

20:00 Zulu it is. I should be able to be there.

There is, delta. I'd love to get back to flying some 1946 multiplayer. I severely miss the old Dogz mess that was our 1946 rodeos. If you wish to fly 1946 in company, let me know so we can set up a time. As for other games, Reggie, the biggest ones for me are: Current: Grand Theft Auto V Online (I'm a cooperative type player), 7 Days to Die (zombie apocalypse base-building, again, most fun with friends. Takes a LONG time, though. You've got to be dedicated to it. Many multiple nights spent with Jack and AP doing that.) and ArmA 3, though I don't do much multiplayer as I have too many mods/haven't found a good squad that fits my interests. Old but Gold: Skyrim heavily modded. As the saying goes: Mod it 'til it crashes. Been there, done that. Many times. Unfortunately, Windows 10 hates it, so I've been running it on my old drive, which finally failed.

Well... it was a glitch. They have power again, and me being me, I'll continue to drive them into the ground until they threaten to give up (again). Then I'll "panic" (again). Case in point, I *still* have my old Microsoft Force Feedback stick that gave up sitting around as "Oh, I'll fix it 'someday'". That someday has yet to arrive. Same for the left pedal, which lost its spring about two years ago. Can't possibly be that difficult to fix, simply a matter of the ever elusive "Round To-it" (that is, getting around to it and just fixing the thing, already!). However, I do like the suggestion about the Crosswinds. 5x the nice for 2x the price sounds well worth it. "Someday"! Ha. Thanks much for the suggestions!

Have a set of Pro Flight pedals. They aren't getting power now. Might try to fix them, but in the mean time, what would be a recommended replacement?

Centering TrackIR is through TrackIR, not the game (any game). As I recall, it's NUMPAD F5 by default. You have to go into TrackIR settings to change it. Oh, and yeah, DCS is messed up in all the control configurations it sets automatically that make no sense that you then have to go in and individually delete - PER AIRCRAFT. Sigh. Grumble.