Flight and Flying [Thursday, July 19, 3rd period]

[sith_happened]

When the students arrived at the flight shed, they'd immediately notice that the sim had been completely reconfigured.

"This is an X-Wing starfighter," Anakin said with a smile. "Today we're going to practice flying in a zero-g environment."

He waved at the door and Artoo rolled into the shed and tweetled politely, then came over to the sim and plugged himself into the droid-shaped hole on the back of the sim. "This is Artoo," Anakin, smiling. "He's your copilot of sorts who can get to mechanical problems while you're flying. For example, fixing shields that have been damaged by laser fire. He'll also scream at you if he thinks you're going too fast."

Anakin had learned to ignore that sound early.

He pointed into the inside of the cockpit. "There are a lot more controls in the X-Wing than the podracer, obviously. Here you need to regulate atmosphere, gauge fuel and weapons' levels, as well as communications, landing gear and assorted other bells and whistles."

He smiled at them. "But don't worry too much--you're not going to be tested on this." He sat in the cockpit and handwavily showed them how to make the ship speed up, slow down, turn and spin. "Obviously, this moves much faster than the podracer," he said, "and the sim has been programmed with the grav you'd have in your cockpit, so if you spin yourself too fast, you will make yourself sick. And then you will be cleaning out the sim."

Anakin clasped his hands together. "Okay. You'll each get a chance to try the sim out to learn how it works. You'll be in a program set way out in space so there's nothing for you to hit if you can't figure out how to steer right away. Once you feel more comfortable, there'll be a choice of two courses to run through--one that's strictly testing you on mobility, the other than also allows you to use the laser cannons."

He gave the class a cocky smile. "Before you came in, I set a new record on the sim for time and accuracy. See if you can come close."

Taking Over Me - Evanescence

Comments

Sign in [July 19]

[sith_happened]

Name and call sign, if you have one.

Re: Sign in [July 19]

[flamingbonehead.livejournal.com]

Johnny Blaze. His call sign would probably just be Blaze.

Learn to fly the X-Wing

[sith_happened]

Spin and get sick and Anakin will make you clean it up.

Re: Learn to fly the X-Wing

[flamingbonehead.livejournal.com]

Johnny didn't like the X-Wings as much. The podracers were close enough in feel and design to motorcycles that he felt comfortable in them, but in the x-wing he felt as though someone had shoved him in the cockpit of an airplane. Working in three dimensions instead of only two made him feel like a kid, having to relearn driving skills all over again.

It also made him nauseous from all the up and down and spinning the x-wing did.

Having the droid co-pilot was a big change for him too. Johnny was used to riding on his own, and only relying on his own skills, so having someone else seemingly in the back of his head helping to drive and telling him what to do was rather unnerving.

Still, after a good deal of practicing, and one break in the middle to fumble around for some gravol, he seemed to be getting the hang of things. He wasn't a great pilot, and would still be way more comfortable on a bike than in an x-wing, but he could at least get it to go where he wanted it to.

Re: Learn to fly the X-Wing

[imcalledandros.livejournal.com]

Andros practiced flying the X-Wing, even if it did take him slightly longer than what it normally would have taken since he was trying to be careful not to further damage his injured wrist. It wasn't the best flying that he had ever done but it was still pretty good.

Re: Learn to fly the X-Wing

[untouchableskin.livejournal.com]

Rogue remembered this from taking the workshop last session, not that it made it any easier for her to fly, of course.

Re: Learn to fly the X-Wing

[orewahikari.livejournal.com]

... this is much better than last week. Roxas didn't like the podracers much - they go too fast, and they're open. These ones are closed so it makes it seem safer to him to sit in it.

He's not great with it, first time, however - he's only 16, and can't drive anything normally, so this is something new. But last week with the podracers have helped a little, and he gets the knack of the controls after a little while.

Suffice to say, however, that he looks a tad green when he finally gets out, mostly because he's not used to zero-gravity. But he leaves no mess behind, the thoughtful boy.

Re: Learn to fly the X-Wing

[jedi-qui.livejournal.com]

Though the X-Wing was a bit more advanced, it was similar enough to the ships that Qui-Gon had trained on that he didn't need too much practice. In fact, he found it a little easier than the ships he was used to because of some of the improvements. The S-foils provided much great stability -- especially during some of the more extreme maneuvers -- that Qui-Gon appreciated, considering some of his attempts during his Jedi training.

Re: Learn to fly the X-Wing

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

The X-Wing being more complex than the podracer, River found it more of a challenge. Just high speed was an adrenaline kick, but so was managing more complicated controls, and in a more rewarding way.

Re: Learn to fly the X-Wing

[the_merriest]

Flying rocks. This is totally different from the podracer, and it feels more like something she's used to, although comparing the Fahrenheit to one of this sleek X-Wings is like comparing a dumptruck to a Camaro.

It handles like a dream and she can't help going for a few barrel rolls, and flying way faster than she can handle, and taking sharp turns just to feel the torque.

Luckily, she's got a high tolerance for nausea, or else she'd totally be mopping out the sim. Rikku's pretty sure it'd be worth it anyway.

Re: Learn to fly the X-Wing

[likethegun]

Sam went in with two goals - to learn at least the basics of making the X-Wing work, and to not make himself throw up. If he could get used to moving at a decent pace, well, that would be a bonus.

Obstacle course #1

[sith_happened]

You're flying through a asteroid field. Duck, dodge, and spin to avoid being squished like a bug.

Don't cut it too close or the R2 unit will scream his head off.

The average pilot can get through the course in 12 minutes. The average Jedi can do it in about 9.

Anakin's new record is 7:20. Artoo was not happy.

Re: Obstacle course #1

[flamingbonehead.livejournal.com]

Johnny was glad he'd taken the gravol earlier, because he was pretty sure he would have puked in the cockpit without it. As it was, he flew through the course in a half-panicked mode, spinning to get past obstacles only to discover more asteroids behind him, gripping the controls so hard he thought they would break, and nearly slicing the cockpit and navigation droid clean off the ship at one memorable point.

Needless to say, Artoo screamed for most of the run through the obstacle course.

He manged to make it through the course in a little under 15 minutes, almost twice Anakin's time.

Re: Obstacle course #1

[orewahikari.livejournal.com]

The asteroid field is somewhat easier to navigate than the canyon-like one last week. Things are mostly spaced further apart, more open space to maneouvre in, and this is so much better.

The spinning really makes Roxas feel queasy (he throws up in his mouth at one point, thinking that he should not have eaten breakfast) but he manages not to break anything.

And R2 doesn't scream too loudly. Much. The ringing in Roxas' ears would probably clear up in an hour or two.

Re: Obstacle course #1

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

Familiar, so very familiar. Like dodging Coralians, or playing tag with the typeZERO.

There was a bright anticipation in her eyes, and a slightly manic (and mildly disturbing) smile on her face as she began the run.

She finished in about 9:36. "Hmpf. Too slow. Again." She glared at Artoo's protests. "What? There's no reason this should take me more than eight. I'm not going anywhere near too fast. Wimp."

Re: Obstacle course #1

[jedi-qui.livejournal.com]

Qui-Gon may not have been the natural pilot that some Jedi we can name were, but he was still a Jedi. There was a pattern to asteroid fields that was relatively easy to grasp when you reached out with the Force and Qui-Gon flew and spun his X-Wing through the smallest crack in that pattern.

He had Artoo screaming from about a third of his way through the course and finished it with a grin on his face in 8:58.

Re: Obstacle course #1

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

The disadvantage with simulations, River discovered, was lack of reality. She found herself wanting to try the limits of everything, frequently getting too close to the asteriods before learning. Artoo was in shock.

Re: Obstacle course #1

[likethegun]

Sam probably went slower than most of the rest of the class, and Artoo spent quite a bit of time beeping at him for his crazy frantic dodging techniques, and it took him almost 18 minutes to finish, but he made it through the course without crashing or getting sick.

Re: Obstacle course #1

[the_merriest]

Rikku felt like she had the hang of the controls, kinda-sorta, and it was time to tear things up. She strapped in and pushed for speed, letting instinct take over for those near-misses. It was like sparring, you had to react instead of flailing around or stopping to think.

She was going too fast, and getting too close to the asteroids, and had a few lucky misses with some big rocks. Okay, maybe more than a few.

She finished the course in 14:37, wishing Artoo had a mute switch. What Artoo wished would probably involve more expletives.

Re: Obstacle course #1

[untouchableskin.livejournal.com]

R2 may have screamed a little at some close calls with asteroids, but he certainly didn't have any speed issues to worry about with Rogue. It took her close to twenty minutes to get through it.

Obstacle course #2

[sith_happened]

You're flying through the trench run on the Death Star, a course full of sharp turns. There are five laser turrets shooting at you that you must destroy, as well as a thermal exhaust port at the end of the run that needs to be taken out.

Luckily, there are no TIE fighters coming in from behind. Not that Anakin wanted a rematch on this particular scenario.

An average pilot can go through the run in about 12 minutes. Anakin smoked it in 6 minutes flat.

Re: Obstacle course #2

[flamingbonehead.livejournal.com]

Johnny's good at the flying, but really bad at actually fighting back.

And so while he managed to dodge the first laser turret, he was taken down by a direct hit from the second one.

Talk to each other

[sith_happened]

Talk smack, talk scores, talk, talk, talk.

Re: Talk to each other

[flamingbonehead.livejournal.com]

Johnny hung back after his turn in the simulator was over. He hoped that not all the lessons would involve getting shot at.

Talk to the TA!

[sith_happened]

Who is probably not grinning like a dork every time she looked at Anakin.

Probably.

Re: Talk to the TA!

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Of course not. Rory was the picture of professionalism.

She was hiding her grin behind her coffee cup.

Talk to Anakin

[sith_happened]

He's in a great mood today. For once. It's kind of frightening to see him smile.

OOC

[sith_happened]

I'm at work for the early part of the day PDT, woe.

Feel free to mod Artoo's screams and the course as you'd like, but if you're not a Skywalker/Solo, you won't come close to beating Anakin's scores.

He spent hours reaching his level of Marty Stu skillz.

Take as many tries as you want going through the trench or the asteroids, but remember that canonically, everyone but Luke and Wedge died in the trench. It's not video game easy. I'll mod the sim accordingly if I think you're making it seem too simple.

Re: OOC

[the_merriest]

Hi, question! Where it says "the average pilot", does that mean "the average person attempting this" or "the average person who is already a pilot, and thus way, way better than most of you n00bs"?