Flight and Flying [Friday, 2nd period]

[sith_happened]

Anakin's mouth was set in a slightly harder line today than normal.

It had nothing to do with the new month.

And he wouldn't explain himself even if it did.

The flight simulator had been reconfigured again--this time to something that should seem a bit more familiar to Earth-based students: The F-16 Flying Falcon.

Anakin clasped his hands behind his back and began speaking. "This is one of the aircraft used by the militaries of this world," he began. "It's good in air-to-air combat as well as air-to-surface attack, can go more than 850 kilometers before it needs to be refueled and can withstand up to nine G's--pretty high tech for this world's standards."

He opened the simulator door and gestured to the controls. "As you can see, it's configured differently than the systems we've been using in the last few weeks, but the joystick and the trigger button are located in the same place. The F-16 just isn't as sensitive as the starfighter--you'll have to yank harder at the joystick to get the same reaction."

He was completely oblivious to any kind of innuendo that might've been found in that statement. "You'll also be dealing with the Earth's gravity, so turns won't be as fast, and if you make the plane go up too quickly, the machine's been equipped to simulate G forces, so you might pass out. That's not exactly what I had in mind for today, so please don't do that."

Comments

Sign in [June 1]

[sith_happened]

...

Re: Sign in [June 1]

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke Skywalker

Practice run

[sith_happened]

The weapons are simulated, the catharsis is real...

Re: Practice run

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

It took Luke a little bit to adjust to the pull of the gravity and the relative primativeness of the controls.

"It's like flying a Y-Wing," he complained. "Or a rock."

Re: Practice run

[imissmydolphin.livejournal.com]

Lucas was more used to this. He hadn't actually been up in an F-16, but he had the simulator programs that he'd swiped from the Air Force and had a pretty good computer on which to run it.

Actually feeling the G forces was new though for this system. It was similar to some of the hyper reality computer games he'd played, but those weren't as good.

He felt queasy, but kept his stomach.

Re: Practice run

[sixstandingby.livejournal.com]

It took Gavin awhile to get used to the controls and, even then, he still flew sluggishly. The controls weren't that different but the gravity was and he couldn't quite compensate for that during the practice run.

Re: Practice run

[cantjossme.livejournal.com]

Mel struggled to control her plane and managed to keep it up without crashing. YAY!

Re: Practice run

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel couldn't quite compensate for gravity. So she crashed. Repeatedly.

Re: Practice run

[ktarian-wildman.livejournal.com]

Even though she had a slightly shaky start Naomi was still able to complete the practice run.

Re: Practice run

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

This was not a problem for Johnny.

He flew the Falcon fast and easy, used to the controls and the plane.

Re: Practice run

[solo_sword]

Jaina took a minute to adjust to new controls and the gravity, but having flown in atmosphere before, it didn't take her too long. Still, she took her time to get the feel for it, just so she didn't rush things and die in the actual run.

Re: Practice run

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Not that Anders had had any kind of flight experience at home, but atmospheric-only craft were a little weird to him. As a result, he kept forgetting about gravity, and crashed three or four times out of sheer frustration that the plane wasn't responding as fast as he thought it should be.

The G-forces, though, were . . . kind of cool, actually.

Re: Practice run

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

John liked flying the F-16. It was an Air Force plane, and John knew about Air Force planes. He was already used to flying with Earth's gravity, so he just played around during the practice run and had a good time with it.

Re: Practice run

[ambassadorinara.livejournal.com]

Inara wasn't used to the controls or the aircraft, but was unfamiliar enough with flying that manuvering in gravity didn't cause any more of a hindrance than anything else she was doing.

It also didn't stop her from crashing into things when she wasn't going as slowly as a turtle.

Re: Practice run

[multiplez]

Z made it through the practice run in a respectable, if not spectacular, time. And without crashing, so she thought that was a plus.

Re: Practice run

[im-fullmetal.livejournal.com]

Ed wasn't really focused on flying but he was too much of a perfectionist to let himself fail so after a few losing battles against gravity, he kept the plane up and moving through the practice run.

Re: Practice run

[narglette.livejournal.com]

Gravity? Nothing new for Luna.

Flying? Also nothing new.

Gravity, flying and being inside a big shiny metal box with wings that didn't move somewhere behind her? Totally new! Hence the crashing. Lots of it.

But she never gave up! Which lead to...

Almost not crashing. Yay!

Exercise 1: Air to Surface

[sith_happened]

You are looking for five targets located in a mountain range. They vary in size from a several story-tall building to a small car. The average pilot can make it through the run in about 12 minutes.

Anakin scorched through it in 5 minutes flat.

Yes, it's insane.

Re: Exercise 1: Air to Surface

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke hit all of the targets, but it took him 8 minutes.

He was Not Especially Pleased with that, and waited impatiently for the rest of the class to go through the run to see if there would be time for another shot at the exercise.

Re: Exercise 1: Air to Surface

[imissmydolphin.livejournal.com]

Lucas all targets and made it through in 15 minutes. He had to go back to hit the car.

Re: Exercise 1: Air to Surface

[sixstandingby.livejournal.com]

Gavin was still having trouble adapting to the gravity of the stupid jet so he almost missed the target. He managed to catch it and destroy it, finishing the course in 13:00.

Then, in a very mature fashion, he made faces at the simulator.

Exercise 2: Air to Air

[sith_happened]

Classic dogfighting. You are up against three airplanes that are heavier and less maneuverable than you are, but they have longer-range weapons.

Try not to die.

Re: Exercise 2: Air to Air

[imissmydolphin.livejournal.com]

Lucas died, but he managed to stay alive for 8 minutes before getting clipped and spiralling down to certain doom.

Talk to each other

[sith_happened]

Boast about potential times or actual scores.

Re: Talk to each other

[sixstandingby.livejournal.com]

Gavin was still making faces at the simulator.

Talk to Anakin

[sith_happened]

He's in a mood, though. Fair warning.

Re: Talk to Anakin

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke spent most of the class giving his father slightly worried glances. The emotions were battened down a little too tightly to be entirely healthy...

OOC

[sith_happened]

I'm afk most of the day for work, but I'll answer pings when I can.