Interesting or unusual planes?

[trekker12]

You only get the base version but that's still pretty good.

I still haven't got a computer to try it on though. It's also apparently going to be released on the Xbox eventually which is a hell of a lot of computing power for a lot less than a gaming PC. I wonder if it's going to be the same version or if it will be a stripped down version? There's very little information on the web.

XBox's etc are much more friendly at accepting third party controllers etc than games machines used to be. As I have to wait a while to save up I'll see how things develop after the X-Series launch currently predicted for November.

[TimC]

Asobo/Microsoft are not even guessing at a date for the X-Box version. It's probably as much as a year away. Those of us with the Premium Deluxe licence are having to wait for the extra stuff to be rolled out, so no-one has anything but the basic version yet. My limited time playing with the sim shows me that their flight models are not great, as I've already said. It's very pretty to look at, at least in areas where Bing has lots of data, but it's not so much better than P3Dv5 with Orbx scenery add-ons that I'd walk away from the Lockheed product. And, as yet, most of us haven't worked out the nitty-gritties of the SDK so we can produce the extras that will take it from a game to a decent sim!

[trekker12]

Ah, I hadn't realised the premium packages weren't available yet. It seems there is a long term road map so it's got a long way to go. They claim to continue to add new Bing data automatically onto the servers as they develop it.

[TimC]

They do - it's an automated process, so it happens all the time. In fact, it looks like the demand from MSFS users will be such that it will be a bigger driver of Bing Maps data collection than any other economic unit!

[TheLurker]

Low flying aircraft  Requires *spit* Javascript.

In other news.  Dirty great Antonov inbound to Brize a few days ago.  No pics. Sorry.

Oh and an odd coincidence.  Pic. of a large scale model of a B&V 141 in this month's AeroModeller.

[PaulF]

Low flying aircraft  Requires *spit* Javascript.

In other news.  Dirty great Antonov inbound to Brize a few days ago.  No pics. Sorry.

Oh and an odd coincidence.  Pic. of a large scale model of a B&V 141 in this month's AeroModeller.

That Antonio made a bit of noise didn’t it? I’m on the base leg turn so get the full benefit of movements in.

[ElyDave]

Low flying aircraft  Requires *spit* Javascript.

In other news.  Dirty great Antonov inbound to Brize a few days ago.  No pics. Sorry.

Oh and an odd coincidence.  Pic. of a large scale model of a B&V 141 in this month's AeroModeller.

It's a bit big mate!

No probs, we'll just fold the wings up. 

One of my all-time favourite aircraft, I had an airfix model back in the day that had a rotating bomb-bay. I'd never noticed the hump-back shape though.

Lots of noisy stuff round here as well, but not as big as that Antonov

[Mr Larrington]

In other news.  Dirty great Antonov inbound to Brize a few days ago.  No pics. Sorry

4- or 6-engined model?  Saw one o' the former parked at Hartsfield-Jackson a few years ago.  Big.

[TheLurker]

In other news.  Dirty great Antonov inbound to Brize a few days ago.  No pics. Sorry

4- or 6-engined model?  Saw one o' the former parked at Hartsfield-Jackson a few years ago.  Big.

Good question.  Was out on a post work perambulation with MrsLurker* so didn't, "stop and stare", do I look daft? Don't answer that, it was rhetorical.   Just glanced up, saw stupidly massive shape defying the laws of physics and thought, "Ah, another** Antonov" before continuing the stroll.  Will pay more attention next time.


*Who can now, after extensive coaching, reliably distinguish between a C-17, an A-400M & a C-130 and she *was* a dab hand at recognising VC-10s, but they have gone the way of the Dodo.

*They're not especially common, but they're not especially rare.

[ElyDave]

So I signed up to the Game Pass for £1 for the first month.

Core I7-8650, 16GB Ram and it's not good enough because it doesn't have a separate GPU!
Now I could understand that meaning it'll not perform well, but even at minimum resolution, 30fps and offline play, it is just so slow to load it is unplayable.

[TimC]

Loading times are an issue on almost any spec of computer, but trying to use this game on a computer using an integrated GPU is extremely unlikely to work. Realistically, it needs a modern GPU (Nvidia 1070 or later) with 8Gb of VRAM. It will run on less-capable kit, but not well. But the same is true of XP11 and P3Dv5, and the latter really needs 32Gb of system RAM as well, so MSFS isn't unduly demanding.

[Jakob]

Ok, so now it's starting to get tricky!

https://i.imgur.com/cu0KOqK.mp4

[Jaded]

Ok, so now it's starting to get tricky!

https://i.imgur.com/cu0KOqK.mp4

The graphics are amazing!

[fuzzy]

Ok, so now it's starting to get tricky!

https://i.imgur.com/cu0KOqK.mp4

Nice one Jakob

[ElyDave]

Twitchy instructor hand on the controls, I remember that well from my light aircraft hours.

Great Stuff.

[Steph]

Low flying...

https://twitter.com/Defence_blog/status/1299370429740650496

[spesh]

Low flying...

https://twitter.com/Defence_blog/status/1299370429740650496

Yak skazaty ukrayinsʹkoyu movoyu "It'll buff out"?

More a case of missing the landing point during an improvised runway exercise rather than a case of trying to imitate Ray Hanna going wrong, which explains why there's less of a dent in the edge of the intake than I'd expect.

The pilot's lucky - if his approach had been a tad to the left, the sign would have gone straight down the intake duct.

[Jakob W]

Catching up on this thread, I see one of the myriad ways Whirlybirds like to try and give their pilots a bad day in the office has not been mentioned; hence I present the following, to be sung to the tune of 'Spider-Man':

Vortex ring, vortex ring/ kills you deader than a very dead thing/ blades lose lift/ fall out the sky/you crash and burn/ and then you die/ look out!/ here comes a vortex ring...

[TheLurker]

B-52s are back, turned up a week or so ago. Six I believe.  Watched 3 head out in quick succession this morning. Eastbound (ish) take off.  Quite unusual that, usually only get to see them landing.  What I take to be the same 3 just gone over inbound.

[Hot Flatus]

Did you see the footage of the SU27s bothering B52s over the Baltic a day ago?

Unless the US has B52s based elsewhere in Europe, I'm guessing they would be the Fairford planes

[spesh]

Did you see the footage of the SU27s bothering B52s over the Baltic a day ago?

From what I was reading yesterday, the dangerous intercept occurred over the Black Sea.

https://youtu.be/MGL5shiPGCQ

Source: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36072/pentagon-releases-terrifying-video-of-russian-su-27-turning-directly-in-front-of-a-b-52

Unless the US has B52s based elsewhere in Europe, I'm guessing they would be the Fairford planes

Fairford's the only European airfield used by American heavy bombers.

[Jakob]

https://youtu.be/huvhc9MGoeA

This was fun!

[pcolbeck]

An F-16 just screamed over our house at about 100 ft. We get quite a few F-15s and Eurofighters as we are in a low fly training zone but that's the first time I have seen an F-16 here.

[Jurek]

https://youtu.be/huvhc9MGoeA

This was fun!

That was well cool. 

[mrcharly-YHT]

Ok, so now it's starting to get tricky!

https://i.imgur.com/cu0KOqK.mp4

When I was a teen, I did a fair bit of orienteering. At the state competition, the news station flew in with a chopper. Landed in a clearing only just big enough. All fine.

They did their filming, headed back to chopper.

Only trouble was, the wind had got up. Fine as they started to take off, but as they ascended, wind took them sideways . . .  Memory has it that there was about 20ft between blades and trees on all sides. I remember watching the pilot making about 4 attempts before managing to clear the trees.

Brown trousers all round, I reckon.